When love beckons to you, follow her,
Though her ways are hard and
steep.
And when her wings enfold you yield to her,
Though the sword hidden
among her pinions may wound you.
And when she speaks to you believe in
her,
Though her voice may shatter your dreams
as the north wind lays waste
the garden.
For even as love crowns you so shall she crucify you.
Even as
she is for your growth so is she for your pruning.
Even as she ascends to your
height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,
So shall
she descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.
Like sheaves of corn she gathers you unto herself.
She threshes you to
make you naked.
She sifts you to free you from your husks.
She grinds you to
whiteness.
She kneads you until you are pliant;
And then she assigns you to
her sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God's sacred feast.
All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of
your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's heart.
Kahlil Gibran
The Prophet
(inspired)