On Marriage by Kahlil Gibran

On Marriage

BY KAHLIL GIBRAN

Then Almitra spoke again and said, And

what of Marriage, master?

And he answered saying:

You were born together, and together you

shall be forevermore.

You shall be together when the white

wings of death scatter your days.

Ay, you shall be together even in the

silent memory of God.

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 from the same loaf.

Sing and dance together and be joyous,

but let each one 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.


lead us in a close reading of the poem, using any of the strategies we’ve been practicing in class, including Google doc annotations and/or “talking back” to the poem by either a. identifying questions from Hirsch’s “How to Read a Poem” or b. posing questions of your own to the poem, and then attempting to answer them. Your goal will be to help us understand the overall meaning and purpose of the poem.