Wedding Readings

And an astronomer said, “Master, what of Time?”
And he answered:
You would measure time the measureless and the immeasurable.

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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.

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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.

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And a woman spoke, saying, “Tell us of Pain.”
And he said:
Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.

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And then a scholar said, “Speak of Talking.”
And he answered, saying:
You talk when you cease to be at peace with your thoughts;

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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.

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And the priestess spoke again and said:
“Speak to us of Reason and Passion.”
And he answered saying:

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And an orator said, “Speak to us of Freedom.”
And he answered:
At the city gate and by your fireside I have seen you prostrate yourself and worship your own freedom,
Even as slaves humble themselves before a tyrant and praise him though he slays them.

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.

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