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[spiros]

Sand and Foam (1)
Khalil Gibran

I AM FOREVER walking upon these shores,
Betwixt the sand and the foam,
The high tide will erase my foot-prints,
And the wind will blow away the foam.
But the sea and the shore will remain
Forever.


Πάντα αν διαβώ κάποια αμμουδιά
μεσ’ από αφρούς και από άμμο
περνά από το νου μου
πως ο άνεμος σκορπίζει τον αφρό
και τα ίχνη μου πάνω στην άμμο
θα τα σβήσει το κύμα,
όμως τα πέλαγα κι οι αμμουδιές θα μείνουν
για πάντα.


<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/dRrjLkVaHK8" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/dRrjLkVaHK8</a>
Sand and Foam - Donovan

[wings]

Khalil Gibran (1883 - 19831)



Khalil Gibran (born Gibrān Khalīl Gibrān bin Mikhā'īl bin Sa'ad; Arabic جبران خليل جبران بن ميکائيل بن سعد), (January 6, 1883 – April 10, 1931) was a Lebanese American artist, poet, and writer. Born in the town of Bsharri in modern-day Lebanon (then part of Ottoman Syria), as a young man he emigrated with his family to the United States where he studied art and began his literary career. He is chiefly known for his 1923 book The Prophet, a series of philosophical essays written in English prose. An early example of inspirational literature, the book sold well despite a cool critical reception, and became extremely popular in 1960s counterculture.


Poems published in Translatum:

• Sand and Foam (1)
• Sand and Foam (2)
• Sand and Foam (3)
• Sand and Foam (4)
• Sand and Foam (5)

-> Χαλίλ Γκριμπράν (Για τη μουσική) [Khalil Gibran on Music]


Index of world poetry | World poetry translated into Greek

[spiros]

Once I filled my hand with mist.
Then I opened it and lo, the mist was a worm.
And I closed and opened my hand again, and behold there was a bird.
And again I closed and opened my hand, and in its hollow stood a man with a sad face, turned upward.
And again I closed my hand, and when I opened it there was naught but mist.
But I heard a song of exceeding sweetness.

[spiros]

It was but yesterday I thought myself a fragment quivering without rhythm in the sphere of life.
Now I know that I am the sphere, and all life in rhythmic fragments moves within me.

[spiros]

They say to me in their awakening, "You and the world you live in are but a grain of sand upon the infinite shore of an infinite sea."
And in my dream I say to them, "I am the infinite sea, and all worlds are but grains of sand upon my shore."

[spiros]

Only once have I been made mute. It was when a man asked me, "Who are you?"

[spiros]

The first thought of God was an angel.
The first word of God was a man.

[spiros]

We were fluttering, wandering, longing creatures a thousand thousand years before the sea and the wind in the forest gave us words.
Now how can we express the ancient of days in us with only the sounds of our yesterdays?

[spiros]

The Sphinx spoke only once, and the Sphinx said, "A grain of sand is a desert, and a desert is a grain of sand; and now let us all be silent again."
I heard the Sphinx, but I did not understand.

[spiros]

Long did I lie in the dust of Egypt, silent and unaware of the seasons.
Then the sun gave me birth, and I rose and walked upon the banks of the Nile,
Singing with the days and dreaming with the nights.
And now the sun threads upon me with a thousand feet that I may lie again in the dust of Egypt.
But behold a marvel and a riddle!
The very sun that gathered me cannot scatter me.
Still erect am I, and sure of foot do I walk upon the banks of the Nile.

[spiros]

Remembrance is a form of meeting.

[spiros]

Forgetfulness is a form of freedom.

[spiros]

We measure time according to the movement of countless suns; and they measure time by little machines in their little pockets.
Now tell me, how could we ever meet at the same place and the same time?

[spiros]

Space is not space between the earth and the sun to one who looks down from the windows of the Milky Way.

[spiros]

Humanity is a river of light running from the ex-eternity to eternity.