Analysis of My Friend
Khalil Gibran 1883 (Bsharri) – 1931 (New York City)
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 laught 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.
Scheme | XAX BX CCX DDA XE XXXXCE XCXXXE XFXE FBE AGG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111111111011010110 1101010111110001 11100 01011110011100 011101110111 1111101011111011 11111111110101 1111010 1110111011111 11011111111111 11010110101 111011111111 1011111101 1111111111111110 111101110010101 010111110101011 111011110111110 010101111111111 111101 1111110101111101 11110101110101 101111111111 11111111011111 00111110011111 11111011110101 111010010001111 11110111111011 111111111111110 11101 1111101001111 010111111001000 1111111110111101 1111111111111 011111111010111 01 |
Closest metre | Iambic heptameter |
Characters | 1,975 |
Words | 392 |
Sentences | 24 |
Stanzas | 10 |
Stanza Lengths | 3, 2, 3, 3, 2, 6, 6, 4, 3, 3 |
Lines Amount | 35 |
Letters per line (avg) | 44 |
Words per line (avg) | 11 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 154 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 39 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 09, 2023
- 1:57 min read
- 77 Views
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"My Friend" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 9 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/25214/my-friend>.
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