THE WANDERER
Author
Khalil Gibran
BOOK
THE WANDERER
I met him at the crossroads
a man with but a cloak
and a staff
and a veil of pain upon his face.
And we greeted one another
and I said to him,
“Come to my house and be my guest.”
And he came.
My wife and my children met us at the threshold,
and he smiled at them, and they loved his coming.
Then we all sat together at the board
and we were happy with the man for
there was a silence and a mystery in him.
And after supper we gathered to the fire
and I asked him about his wanderings.
He told us many a tale that night and also
the next day,
but what I now record was born out of the bitterness of his days
though he himself was kindly
and these tales are of the dust and patience of his road.
And when he left us after three days
And when he left us after three days
we did not feel that a guest had departed
but rather that one of us was still out in the garden
and had not yet come in.
