Let Togetherness

But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.

Love one another but make not a bond of love.
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other’s cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.

Sing and dance together and be joyous but let each one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though the quiver with the same music

Give you heart but not into each other’s keeping.
For only the hand of life can contain your hearts.
And stand together yet not two near together:
For pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other’s shadows.

The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran