the boundless in you

.

But sweeter still than laughter

 and greater than longing came to me.

It was the boundless in you;

The vast man in whom you are all but cells and sinews;

He in whose chant all your singing

 is but a soundless throbbing.

It is in the vast man that you are vast,

And in beholding him

 that I beheld you

 and loved you.

For what distances can love reach

 that are not in that vast sphere?

What visions, what expectations

 and what presumptions can outsoar that flight?

Like a giant oak tree covered with apple blossoms

 is the vast man in you.

His might binds you to the earth, 

his fragrance lifts you into space, 

and in his durability you are deathless.

~ Kahlil Gibran

from The Prophet

photo by Jack Spenser