And When my Joy was Born
And when my Joy was born, I held it in my arms and stood on thehouse-top shouting, "Come ye, my neighbours, come and see, for Joythis day is born unto me. Come and behold this gladsome thing thatlaugheth in the sun."
But none of my neighbours came to look upon my Joy, and great wasmy astonishment.
And every day for seven moons I proclaimed my Joy from thehouse-top--and yet no one heeded me. And my Joy and I were alone,unsought and unvisited.
Then my Joy grew pale and weary because no other heart but mineheld its loveliness and no other lips kissed its lips.
Then my Joy died of isolation.
And now I only remember my dead Joy in remembering my dead Sorrow.But memory is an autumn leaf that murmurs a while in the wind andthen is heard no more.
Words in this poem
- gladsome a.
- Pleased; joyful; cheerful.
- astonishment n.
- The condition of one who is stunned. Hence: Numbness; loss of sensation; stupor; loss of sense. [Cf. OF. est, F. étonnement.]
- loveliness n.
- The state or quality of being lovely. [From Lovely.]
- isolation n.
- The act of isolating, or the state of being isolated; insulation; separation; loneliness. Milman. [Cf. F. isolation.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
And When my Joy was Born is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Madman: His Parables and Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #5616; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Kahlil Gibran, And When my Joy was Born, in The Madman: His Parables and Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #5616, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/gibran-madman/and-when-my-joy-was-born.html, id L27315.
About this section
And When my Joy was Born is prose, printed in 6 paragraphs. It is part of the edition and is kept for reading, but nothing here is measured: the line breaks are the printer's, so no metre, rhyme scheme or scansion is stated.
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