The Spirit

And the God of gods separated a Spirit from Himself and created in it Beauty.

He gave to it the lightness of the breeze at dawn and the fragrance of the flowers of the field and the softness of moonlight.

Then He gave to it a cup of joy, saying;

“You shall not drink of it except that you forget the Past and heed not the Future.”

And He gave to it a cup of sadness, saying:

“You shall drink and know there from the meaning of Life’s rejoicing.”

Then He put therein a Love that would forsake it with the first sigh of satisfaction; and a Sweetness that would go out there from with the first word uttered.

And He caused to descend upon it knowledge from the heavens to guide it in the way of Truth. And planted in its depths Sight, that it might see the unseen.

Therein He created Feeling to flow with images and phantom forms;

And clothed it with a garment of Yearning woven by angels from rainbow strands.

In it He did put the darkness of Confusion, which is Light’s image.

And the God took Fire from Wrath’s furnace, and a Wind from the desert of Ignorance, and Sand from the seashore of Selfishness, and Earth from beneath the feet of the ages, and He created man.

He gave to him unseeing Force to rise up in fury with madness and subside before lust.

And the God of gods smiled and wept and knew a Love boundless and without limit, and He mated Man with his Spirit.

Kahlil Gibran

A Tear and A Smile p. 24