The Great Longing
Here I sit between my brother the mountain and my sister the sea.
We three are one in loneliness, and the love that binds us togetheris deep and strong and strange. Nay, it is deeper than my sister'sdepth and stronger than my brother's strength, and stranger thanthe strangeness of my madness.
Aeons upon aeons have passed since the first grey dawn made usvisible to one another; and though we have seen the birth and thefullness and the death of many worlds, we are still eager and young.
We are young and eager and yet we are mateless and unvisited, andthough we lie in unbroken half embrace, we are uncomforted. Andwhat comfort is there for controlled desire and unspent passion?Whence shall come the flaming god to warm my sister's bed? Andwhat she-torrent shall quench my brother's fire? And who is thewoman that shall command my heart?
In the stillness of the night my sister murmurs in her sleep thefire-god's unknown name, and my brother calls afar upon the cooland distant goddess. But upon whom I call in my sleep I know not.
Here I sit between my brother the mountain and my sister the sea.We three are one in loneliness, and the love that binds us togetheris deep and strong and strange.
Words in this poem
- loneliness n.
- The condition of being lonely; solitude; seclusion.
- strangeness n.
- The state or quality of being strange (in any sense of the adjective).
- mateless a.
- Having no mate. [Cf. Matchless.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- stillness n.
- The quality or state of being still; quietness; silence; calmness; inactivity.
- afar adv.
- At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Great Longing 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, The Great Longing, in The Madman: His Parables and Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #5616, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/gibran-madman/the-great-longing.html, id L27310.
About this section
The Great Longing 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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