Khalil Gibran was a Lebanese- American writer, poet, and painter chiefly known for his poetic essays and philosophical short stories.
The featured poem, ‘Do Not Love Half Lovers’ is perhaps one of Gibran’s most treasured works, urging us to live lives that are true to ourselves without compromise.
We hope you enjoy our rendition of this wonderful poem.
–
We worked with the following artists to produce this reading:
Voice-over by Shane Morris
Score by Steven Gutheinz
Self-portrait by Khalil Gibran (1905)
Subscribe for more poetry readings:
#halfalife #inspirational
Do not love Half-lovers Do not entertain have friends Do not indulge in works of the Half-talented Do not live Half a life And do not die A Half-death if you choose silence Then be silent When you speak Do so until you are finished Do not silence yourself to say something And do not speak To be silent If you accept Then express it bluntly Do not mask it If you refuse then be clear about it For an ambiguous refusal Is but a weak acceptance Do not accept half a solution Do not believe half truths Do not dream half a dream Do not fantasize about half hopes Half a drink will not quench your thirst Half a meal will not satiate your hunger Half the way will get you nowhere Half an idea will bear you no results Your other half Is not the one you love It is you in another time yet in the Same space
It is you When you are not Half a life is a life you didn’t live A word You have not said A smile you postponed A love you have not had A friendship you did not know To reach And not arrive Work and not work Attend only to be absent What makes you a stranger to them Closest to you And they strangers to you Behalf is a mere moment of inability But you are able For you are not half a being You are a whole that exists to live a Life Not Half a life [Music] You
