[MD] The Madman: My Friend

[MarshaV]

My Friend     by     Kahlil Gibran


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, nor would I have 
thee understand. I would be at sea alone.

When it is day with thee, my friend, it is night with me; yet even 
then I speak of the noontide that dances upon the hills and of the 
purple shadow that steals its way across the valley; for thou canst 
not hear the songs of my darkness nor see my wings beating against 
the stars -- and I fain would not have thee hear or see. I would be 
with night alone.

When thou ascendest to thy Heaven I descend to my Hell -- even then 
thou callest to me across the unbridgeable gulf, "My companion, my 
comrade," and I call back to thee, "My comrade, my companion" -- for 
I would not have thee see my Hell. The flame would burn thy eyesight 
and the smoke would crowd thy nostrils. And I love my Hell too well 
to have thee visit it. I would be in Hell alone.

Thou lovest Truth and Beauty and Righteousness; and I for thy sake 
say it is well and seemly to love these things. But in my heart I 
laugh at thy love. Yet I would not have thee see my laughter. I would 
laugh alone.

My friend, thou art good and cautious and wise; nay, thou art perfect 
-- and I, too, speak with thee wisely and cautiously. And yet I am 
mad. But I mask my madness. I would be mad alone.

My friend, thou art not my friend, but how shall I make thee 
understand? My path is not thy path, yet together we walk, hand in hand.