I was introduced to 'The Prophet' by Kahlil Gibran by my high school english teacher. The verse on friendship, which I have listed below, is one I have always held near and dear to my heart.

Gibran was born in Lebanon, on Jan. 6, 1883. After primary schooling in Beirut, he was taken by his parents to Boston in 1895. He returned to Lebanon in 1898 to continue his education. Back in Boston in 1903, he published his first essays in the Arab immigrant newspaper The Emigrant. At this time he met Mary Haskell, who was to be his sponsor. She provided him with financial support for the rest of his life. In 1912 he settled in New York City, where he devoted himself to writing essays and short stories in Arabic and English.Gibran died in New York City on April 10, 1931.

In "The Prophet", Kahlil Gibran speaks of death in this way,"For life and death are one, even as the river and sea are one." When I first walked the beach at Cape Henlopen, Delaware, it made me think alot about life. Sometime later in my visit I was driving down what seemed like a small time country back road and I couldn't believe the size and the height of the bridge that seem to come out of no where. The bridge seemed so out of place there, but it was high so the ships could pass under it. I had "discovered" the canal that joined the Delaware Bay to the Chesapeake. The river and the sea joined in a loop there. As I reflect, my thoughts joined in a loop there.

Life sure does have it's twists. As I thought about the full circle of life I remembered my first fathers day as a father, it was my first fathers day without my father. My fathers funeral was on the Thursday before fathers day. That Sunday, Father's Day, was my daughters baptism. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

I thought about baptism, an "initiation" into a life? a way of life? As I walked the along ocean, it touched my soul, I felt baptized, awakened into a new level of focus in my life.

The following verse is from the book, The Prophet, by Kahlil Gibran copyright 1923

And a youth said, Speak to us of Friendship.
And he answered, saying:
Your friend is your needs answered.
He is your field which you sow with love and reap with thanksgiving.
And he is your board and your fireside.
For you come to him with your hunger, and you seek him for peace.
When your friend speaks his mind
you fear not the nay in your own mind,
nor do withhold the ay.

And when he is silent
your heart ceases not to listen to his heart;
For without words, in friendship, all thoughts, all desires, all expectations are born and shared, with joy that is unacclaimed.

When you part from your friend, you grieve not;
For that which you love most in him may be clearer in his absence, as the mountain to the climber is clearer from the plain.
And let there be no purpose in friendship
save the deepening of the spirit.

For love that seeks aught but the disclosure of its own mystery
is not love but a net cast forth:
and only the unprofitable is caught.

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

For what is your friend that you should seek him with hours to kill?
Seek him always with hours to live.
For it is his to fill your need, but not your emptiness.
And in the sweetness of friendship
let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasure.
For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning
and is refreshed.