The Coming of the Ship

Now therefore disclose us to ourselves,
and tell us all that has been shown you
of that which is between birth and death.

On Love

Then said Altima,
Speak to us of Love.

Love gives naught but itself
and takes naught but from itself.
Love possess not nor would it be possessed;
For love is sufficient unto love.

And think not you can direct the course of love,
for love, if it finds you worthy,
directs your course.

Love has no other desire but to fulfil itself.

On Marriage

Then Almitra spoke again and said,
And what of Marriage, master?

You were born together,
and together you shall be forevermore.
You shall be together
when the wings of death
scatter your days.

But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of the heavens
dance between you.

Love one another, but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea
between the shores of your souls.

Fill each other's cup
but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread
but eat not the same loaf.

Sing and dance together and be joyous,
but let each of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone
though they quiver with the same music.

Give your hearts,
but not into each other's keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.

And stand together yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow
not in each other's shadow.

On Children

And a woman who held a babe
against her bosom said,
Speak to us of Children.

Your children are not your children
They are the sons and daughters
of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with
yet they belong not to you.

You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.

On Giving

Then said a rich man,
Speak to us of Giving.

You give but little
when you give of your possessions.
It is when you give of yourself
that you truly give.

It is well to give when asked,
but it is better to give unasked,
through understanding.

For in truth it is life that give unto life -
while you, who deem yourself a giver,
are but a witness.

On Eating and Drinking

Then an old man,
a keeper of an inn, said,
Speak to us of Eating and Drinking.

Would that you could
live on the fragrance of the earth,
and like an air plant
be sustained by the light.

But since you must kill to eat,
and rob the newly born of its mother's milk
to quench your thirst,
let it then be an act of worship.

And let there be in the song
a remembrance for the autumn days,
and for the vineyard,
and for the winepress.

On Work

Then a ploughman said,
Speak to us of Work.

I say to you that when you work
you fulfil a part of earth's furthest dream,
assigned to you when that dream was born,
And in keeping yourself with labour
you are in truth loving life,
And to love life through labour
is to be intimate with life's inmost secret.

All work is empty save when there is love;
And when you work with love
you bind yourself to yourself,
and to one another,
and to God.

Work is love made visible.

On Joy and Sorrow

Then a woman said,
Speak to us of Joy and Sorrow.

Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.

And the selfsame well
from which your laughter rises
was oftentimes filled with your tears.

The deeper that sorrow carves into your being,
the more joy you can contain.

On Houses

Then a mason came forth and said,
Speak to us of Houses,

Your house is your larger body.

What have you in these houses?
And what is it you guard with fastened doors?

Have you peace,
the quiet urge that reveals your power?
Have you remembrances,
the glimmering arches
that span the summits of the mind?
Have you beauty,
that leads the heart
from things fashioned of wood and stone
to the holy mountains?
Tell me, have you these in your houses?

On Clothes

And a weaver said,
Speak to us of Clothes.

Your clothes conceal much of your beauty,
yet they hide not the unbeautiful.

And though you seek in garments
the freedom of privacy you may find in them
a harness and a chain.
Would that you could meet the sun and the sin
with more of your skin and less of your raiment.

And forget not
that the earth delights to feel your bare feet
and the winds long to play with your hair.

On Buying and Selling

And a merchant said,
Speak to us of Buying and Selling.

It is in exchanging the gifts of the earth
that you shall find abundance and be satisfied.
Yet unless the exchange be in love and kindly justice,
it will but lead some to greed and others to hunger.

Before you leave the market place,
see that no one has gone his way with empty hands.

On Crime and Punishment

Then one of the judges of the city
stood forth and said,
Speak to us of Crime and Punishment.

It is when your spirit
goes wandering upon the wind,
That you, alone and unguarded,
commit a wrong unto others
and therefore unto yourself.

And you who would understand justice,
how shall you unless you look upon all deeds
in the fullness of light?
Only then shall you know that
the erect and the fallen are but one man
standing in twilight
between the night of his pigmy-self
and the day of his god-self.

On Laws

And the lawyer said,
But what of our Laws, master?

You delight in laying down laws,
Yet you delight more in breaking them.

But you who walk facing the sun,
what images drawn on the earth
can hold you?
You who travel with the wind,
what weather-vane
shall direct your course?

What man's law shall bind you
if you break your yoke
but upon no man's prison door?
What laws shall you fear if you dance
but stumble against no man's iron chains?

On Freedom

And an orator said,
Speak to us of Freedom.

You shall be free indeed
when your days are not without care
nor your nights without a want and a grief,
But rather when these things girdle your life
and yet you rise above them naked and unbound.

And how shall you rise
beyond your days and nights
unless you break the chains
which you at the dawn of you understanding
have fastened around your noon hour?

On Reason and Passion

And the priestess spoke again and said:
Speak to us of Reason and Passion.

Let you soul exalt your reason
to the height of passion, that it may sing.
And let it direct your passion with reason,
that your passion may live
through its own daily resurrection,
and like the phoenix rise above its own ashes.

I would have you consider
you judgment and your appetite
even as you would
two loved guest in your house.
Surely, you would not honor one guest
above the other;
for he who is more mindful of one
loses the love and faith of both.

On Pain

And a woman spoke, saying,
Tell us of Pain.

Your pain is the breaking
of the shell that encloses your understanding.
Even as the stone of the fruit must break,
that its heart may stand in the sun,
so must you know pain.

And could you keep your heart in wonder
at the daily miracles of your life,
your pain would not seem less wondrous
than your joy.

On Self-Knowledge

And a man said,
Speak to us of Self-Knowledge.

Your hearts know in silence
the secrets of the days and nights.
But your ears thirst for the sound
of your heart's knowledge.

The hidden well-spring of your soul
must needs rise and run murmuring to the sea.

For self is a sea boundless and measureless.

Say not, "I have found the truth,"
but rather, "I have found a truth."

On Teaching

Then said a teacher,
Speak to us of Teaching.

No man can reveal to you aught
but that which already lies half asleep
in the dawning of your knowledge.

The teacher who walks in the shadow of the temple,
among his followers,
gives not of his wisdom
but rather of his faith and his lovingness.

If he is indeed wise
he does not bid you enter the house of his wisdom,
but rather leads you
to the threshold of your own mind.

On Friendship

And a youth said,
Speak to us of Friendship.

And let there be no purpose in friendship
save the deepening of the spirit.

And let your best be for your friend.
If he must know the ebb of your tide,
let him know its flood also.

And in the sweetness of friendship
let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures.
For in the dew of little things
the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.

On Talking

And then a scholar said,
Speak of Talking.

When you meet your friend on the roadside
or in the market place,
let the spirit in you
move your lips and direct your tongue.

Let the voice within your voice
speak to the ear of his ear;
For his soul will keep the truth of your heart
as the taste of the wine is remembered
When the colour is forgotten
and the vessel is no more.

On Time

And an astronomer said,
Master, what of Time?

You would measure time
the measureless and the immeasurable.

Of time you would make a stream
upon whose bank you would sit
and watch its flowing.

Yet the timeless in you
is aware of life's timelessness,
And knows that yesterday
is but today's memory
and tomorrow is today's dream.

On Good and Evil

And one of the elders of the city said,
Speak to us of Good and Evil,

Of the good in you I can speak,
but not of the evil.
For what is evil but good
tortured by its own hunger and thirst?

You are good when you strive to give of yourself.
Yet you are not evil when you seek gain for yourself.

You are good when you are fully awake in your speech.
You are not evil when you sleep
while your tongue staggers without purpose.

You are good when you walk to your goal firmly and with bold steps.
Yet you are not evil when you go thither limping.
Even those who limp go not backward.
But you who are strong and swift,
see that you do not limp before the lame, deeming it kindness.

You are good in countless ways,
and you are not evil when you are not good,
You are only loitering and sluggard.

On Prayer

Then a priestess said,
Speak to us of Prayer.

You pray in your distress and in your need;
would that you might pray also
in the fullness of your joy
and in the days of abundance.

For what is prayer but the expansion of yourself
into the living ether?

And if it is for your comfort
to pour your darkness into space,
it is also for your delight
to pour forth the dawning of your heart.

Therefore let your visit to that temple invisible
be for naught but ecstasy and sweet communion.

On Pleasure

Then a hermit
who visited the city once a year,
came forth and said,
Speak to us of Pleasure.

Go to your fields and your gardens,
and you shall learn that
it is the pleasure of the bee
to gather honey of the flower,
But it is also the pleasure of the flower
to yield its honey to the bee.
For to the bee a flower is a fountain of life,
And to the flower a bee is a messenger of love,
And to both, bee and flower,
the giving and the receiving of pleasure
is a need and an ecstasy.

On Beauty

And a poet said,
Speak to us of Beauty.

Where shall you seek beauty,
and how shall you find her unless
she herself be your way and your guide?
And how shall you speak of her
except she be the weaver of your speech?

Beauty is life
when life unveils her holy face.
But you are life and you are the veil.
Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror.
But you are eternity and you are the mirror.

On Religion

And an old priest said,
Speak to us of Religion.

Have I spoken this day of aught else?

Is not religion all deeds and all reflection,
And that which is neither deed nor reflection,
but a wonder and a surprise
ever springing in the soul,
even while the hands hew the stone
of tend the loom?

Your daily life is your temple and your religion.
Whenever you enter into it take with you your all.

On Death

Then Almitra spoke, saying,
We would ask now of Death.

For life and death are one,
even as the river and the sea are one.

For what is it to die
but to stand naked in the wind
and to melt into the sun?