<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
</head>
<body>
[ for a nicer format see:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/55373/the-greater-sea">https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/55373/the-greater-sea</a> ]<br>
<div class="moz-forward-container">
<div dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div dir="auto">
<div class="c-feature-hd">
<h1 class="c-hdgSans c-hdgSans_2 c-mix-hdgSans_inline"> The
Greater Sea </h1>
</div>
<div class="c-feature-sub c-feature-sub_vast">
<div> <span class="c-txt c-txt_attribution"><font size="+2"><a
href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/kahlil-gibran">Kahlil
Gibran</a></font> </span> </div>
<br>
</div>
<div class="c-feature-sub c-feature-sub_vast"><br>
</div>
<div class="c-feature-sub c-feature-sub_vast">My soul and I went
to the great sea to bathe. And when we reached the shore, we
went about looking for a hidden and lonely place.<br>
</div>
<br>
But as we walked, we saw a man sitting on a grey rock taking
pinches of salt from a bag and throwing them into the sea.<br>
“This is the pessimist,” said my soul, “Let us leave this place.
We cannot bathe here.”<br>
<br>
We walked on until we reached an inlet. There we saw, standing
on a white rock, a man holding a bejeweled box, from which he
took sugar and threw it into the sea.<br>
“And this is the optimist,” said my soul, “And he too must not
see our naked bodies.”<br>
<br>
Further on we walked. And on a beach we saw a man picking up
dead fish and tenderly putting them back into the water.<br>
“And we cannot bathe before him,” said my soul. “He is the
humane philanthropist.” And we passed on.<br>
<br>
Then we came where we saw a man tracing his shadow on the sand.
Great waves came and erased it. But he went on tracing it again
and again.<br>
“He is the mystic,” said my soul, “Let us leave him.”<br>
<br>
And we walked on, till in a quiet cover we saw a man scooping up
the foam and putting it into an alabaster bowl.<br>
“He is the idealist,” said my soul, “Surely he must not see our
nudity.”<br>
<br>
And on we walked. Suddenly we heard a voice crying, “This is
the sea. This is the deep sea. This is the vast and mighty
sea.”</div>
<div dir="auto">And when we reached the voice it was a man whose
back was turned to the sea, and at his ear he held a shell,
listening to its murmur.<br>
And my soul said, “Let us pass on. He is the realist, who turns
his back on the whole he cannot grasp, and busies himself with a
fragment.”<br>
<br>
So we passed on. And in a weedy place among the rocks was a man
with his head buried in the sand. And I said to my soul, “We
can bath here, for he cannot see us.”</div>
<div dir="auto">“Nay,” said my soul, “For he is the most deadly of
them all. He is the puritan.”<br>
<br>
Then a great sadness came over the face of my soul, and into her
voice.<br>
“Let us go hence,” she said, “For there is no lonely, hidden
place where we can bathe. <br>
</div>
<div dir="auto">I would not have this wind lift my golden hair, or
bare my white bosom in this air, or let the light disclose my
sacred nakedness.”<br>
<br>
Then we left that sea to seek the Greater Sea.</div>
<div dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div dir="auto">-------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>
</div>
</div>
<div id="DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2"><br /> <table style="border-top: 1px solid #D3D4DE;">
<tr>
<td style="width: 55px; padding-top: 18px;"><a href="https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=emailclient" target="_blank"><img src="https://ipmcdn.avast.com/images/icons/icon-envelope-tick-round-orange-animated-no-repeat-v1.gif" alt="" width="46" height="29" style="width: 46px; height: 29px;" /></a></td>
<td style="width: 470px; padding-top: 17px; color: #41424e; font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Libre de virus. <a href="https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=emailclient" target="_blank" style="color: #4453ea;">www.avast.com</a> </td>
</tr>
</table>
<a href="#DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2" width="1" height="1"> </a></div></body>
</html>