On Friendship
And a youth said, “Speak to us of Friendship.”
Your friend is your needs answered.
He is your field which you sow with love and reap with thanksgiving.
On Self-Knowledge
And a man said, “Speak to us of Self-Knowledge.”
And he answered, saying:
Your hearts know in silence the secrets of the days and the nights.
On Talking
And then a scholar said, “Speak of Talking.”
And he answered, saying:
You talk when you cease to be at peace with your thoughts;
On Teaching
Then said a teacher, “Speak to us of Teaching.”
And he said:
No man can reveal to you aught but that which already lies half asleep in the dawning of our knowledge.
On Reason & Passion
And the priestess spoke again and said:
“Speak to us of Reason and Passion.”
And he answered saying:
The Coming of the Ship
Almustafa, the chosen and the beloved,
who was a dawn unto his own day,
had waited twelve years in the city of Orphalese for his ship that was to return and bear him back to the isle of his birth.