Borrowed Inspiration: PART 2

MIRRORS OF THE SOUL
THE SAYINGS OF THE BROOK
BY: Kahlil Gibran

I walked in the valley as the rising dawn spoke the secret of eternity.
And there a brook, on its course, was singing, calling and saying:
Life is not only merriment;
Life is desire and determination.
Wisdom is not in words;
Wisdom is meaning within words.
Greatness is not in exalted position;
Greatness is for he who refuses position.
A man is not noble through ancestry;
How many noble men are descendants of murderers?
Not everyone in chains is subdued;
At times, a chain is greater than a necklace.
Paradise is in the pure of heart.
Hell is not in torture;
Hell is an empty heart.
Riches are not in money alone;
How many wanderers were the richest of all men?
Not all the poor are scorned;
The wealth of the world is in a loaf of bread and a cloak.
Beauty is not in the face;
Beauty is in the light of heart.
Perfection is not for the pure of soul;
There may be virtue in sin.
This is what the brook said to the tree upon its banks;
Perhaps what the brook sang was of some of the secrets of the sea.