The Earth Gods

Kahlil Gibran

• Publisher: Read & Co. Books
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781528790116
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Poetry
• Index: Literature

"The Earth Gods" is a 1931 work by poet and philosopher Kahlil Gibran. Gibran Khalil Gibran (1883–1931) was a Lebanese-American poet, writer, and visual artist most famous for his book "The Prophet" (1923), which remains one of the best-selling and most-translated books ever written. His work dealt with a variety of themes including justice, science, free will, love, the soul, happiness, the body, death, etc.; and are characterised by an unmistakable use of symbolism and melancholic style. First published in the year of his death, "The Earth Gods" revolves around a discourse between three gods (First God, Second God, and Third God) who proceed to discuss a range of spiritual concepts. "The Earth Gods" is a classic example of Gibran's mystical prose that will not disappoint those who have read and enjoyed other works by this seminal author. This classic work is being republished now in a new edition complete with a specially commissioned new biography of the author.

THE EARTH GODS

When the night of the twelfth aeon fell,

And silence, the high tide of night, swallowed the hills,

The three earth−born gods, the Master Titans of life,

Appeared upon the mountains.

Rivers ran about their feet;

The mist floated across their breasts,

And their heads rose in majesty above the world.

Then they spoke, and like distant thunder

Their voices rolled over the plains.

FIRST GOD

The wind blows eastward;

I would turn my face to the south,

For the wind crowds my nostrils with the odours of dead things.

SECOND GOD

It is the scent of burnt flesh, sweet and bountiful.

I would breathe it.

FIRST GOD

It is the odour of mortality parching upon its own faint flame.

Heavily does it hang upon the air,

And like foul breath of the pit

It offends my senses.

I would turn my face to the scentless north.

SECOND GOD

It is the inflamed fragrance of brooding life

This I would breathe now and forever.

Gods live upon sacrifice,

Their thirst quenched by blood,

Their hearts appeased with young souls,

Their sinews strengthened by the deathless sighs

Of those who dwell with death;

Their thrones are built upon the ashes of generations.

FIRST GOD

Weary is my spirit of all there is.

I would not move a hand to create a world

Nor to erase one.

I would not live could I but die,

For the weight of aeons is upon me,

And the ceaseless moan of the seas exhausts my sleep.

Could I but lose the primal aim

And vanish like a wasted sun;

Could I but strip my divinity of its purpose

And breathe my immortality into space,

And be no more;

Could I but be consumed and pass from time's memory

Into the emptiness of nowhere!

THIRD GOD

Listen my brothers, my ancient brothers.

A youth in yonder vale

Is singing his heart to the night.

His lyre is gold and ebony.

His voice is silver and gold.

SECOND GOD

I would not be so vain as to be ...