The Madman

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Madman, by Kahlil Gibran
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Title: The Madman
Author: Kahlil Gibran
Release Date: May, 2004 [EBook #5616]
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Edition: 10
Language: English
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MADMAN ***

This eBook created by William Fishburne.
The Madman
His Parables and Poems
By Kahlil Gibran
You ask me how I became a madman. It happened thus: One day, long
before many gods were born, I woke from a deep sleep and found all
my masks were stolen,--the seven masks I have fashioned an worn in
seven lives,--I ran maskless through the crowded streets shouting,
"Thieves, thieves, the cursed thieves."
Men and women laughed at me and some ran to their houses in fear of
me.
And when I reached the market place, a youth standing on a house-top
cried, "He is a madman." I looked up to behold him; the sun kissed my
own naked face for the first time. For the first time the sun kissed my
own naked face and my soul was inflamed with love for the sun, and I
wanted my masks no more. And as if in a trance I cried, "Blessed,
blessed are the thieves who stole my masks."
Thus I became a madman.
And I have found both freedom of loneliness and the safety from being
understood, for those who understand us enslave something in us.
But let me not be too proud of my safety. Even a Thief in a jail is safe
from another thief.
God
In the ancient days, when the first quiver of speech came to my lips, I
ascended the holy mountain and spoke unto God, saying, "Master, I am
thy slave. Thy hidden will is my law and I shall obey thee for ever
more."

But God made no answer, and like a mighty tempest passed away.
And after a thousand years I ascended the holy mountain and again
spoke unto God, saying, "Creator, I am thy creation. Out of clay hast
thou fashioned me and to thee I owe mine all."
And God made no answer, but like a thousand swift wings passed
away.
And after a thousand years I climbed the holy mountain and spoke unto
God again, saying, "Father, I am thy son. In pity and love thou hast
given me birth, and through love and worship I shall inherit thy
kingdom."
And God made no answer, and like the mist that veils the distant hills
he passed away.
And after a thousand years I climbed the sacred mountain and gain
spoke unto God, saying, "My God, my aim and my fulfillment; I am
thy yesterday and thou are my tomorrow. I am thy root in the earth and
thou art my flower in the sky, and together we grow before the face of
the sun."
Then God leaned over me, and in my ears whispered words of
sweetness, and even as the sea that enfoldeth a brook that runneth down
to her, he enfolded me.
And when I descended to the valleys and the plains God was there also.
My Friend
My friend, I am not what I seem. Seeming is but a garment I wear--a
care-woven garment that protects me from thy questionings and thee
from my negligence.
The "I" in me, my friend, dwells in the house of silence, and therein it
shall remain for ever more, unperceived, unapproachable.
I would not have thee believe in what I say nor trust in what I do--for

my words are naught but thy own thoughts in sound and my deeds thy
own hopes in action.
When thou sayest, "The wind bloweth eastward," I say, "Aye it doth
blow eastward"; for I would not have thee know that my mind doth not
dwell upon the wind but upon the sea.
Thou canst not understand my seafaring thoughts,