4umi Khalil Gibran : The Forerunner / The Saint

The Saint

In my youth I once visited a saint in his silent grove beyond the hills; and as we were conversing upon the nature of virtue a brigand came limping wearily up the ridge. When he reached the grove he knelt down before the saint and said, “O saint, I would be comforted! My sins are heavy upon me.”
And the saint replied, “My sins, too, are heavy upon me.”
And the brigand said, “But I am a thief and a plunderer.”
And the saint replied, “I too am a thief and a plunderer.”
And the brigand said, “But I am a murderer, and the blood of many men cries in my ears.”
And the saint replied, “I am a murderer, and in my ears cries the blood of many men.”
And the brigand said, “I have committed countless crimes.”
And the saint replied, “I too have committed crimes without number.”

Then the brigand stood up and gazed at the saint, and there was a strange look in his eyes. And when he left us he went skipping down the hill.
And I turned to the saint and said, “Wherefore did you accuse yourself of uncommitted crimes? See you not this man went away no longer believing in you?”
And the saint answered, “It is true he no longer believes in me. But he went away much comforted.”

At that moment we heard the brigand singing in the distance, and the echo of his song filled the valley with gladness.

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 Khalil Gibran Introductory biography Spirits Rebellious The Broken Wings A Tear and a Smile The Madman The Forerunner The Forerunner God's Fool Love The King-Hermit The Lion's Daughter Tyranny The Saint The Plutocrat The Greater Self War and the Small Nations Critics Poets The Weather-cock The King of Aradus Out of My Deeper Heart Dynasties Knowledge and Half-knowledge 'Said a Sheet of Snow-White Paper...' The Scholar and the Poet Values Other Seas Repentance The Dying Man and the Vulture Beyond My Solitude The Last Watch The Prophet The New Frontier Sand and Foam Jesus, The Son Of Man The Earth Gods The Wanderer Al-Nay The Garden of the Prophet Lazarus and His Beloved Satan My Countrymen I Believe In You Your Thought And Mine You Have Your Lebanon History and the Nation The Vision Visual art