To Gibran..

To the celestial spirit.
To the son of Nature.
To the red flame I offer my soul.
Where are you, O spirit winged above the souls of men?
Where are you, O son of virgin Nature, who loved her with passion and best understood her beauty?
Where are you, O red flame that shone with love and carried its torch from the East to the West?
How I wish I were at your side,
that my ears might drink in the sound of your call.
How I wish I stood before you as you composed, from the pressings of your heart, your immortal anthems.
How I wish I could see you tracing the most beautiful things your imagination and your genius ever drew, O great artist!
O immortal musician! From you I learned the meaning of art and its beauty. In you I understood the musical spirit that I worship and hold sacred.
Yes, Gibran, O son of the majestic cedars — give me to drink of your immortal spirituality; pour into me what my soul adores — I, the little atom of the very Lebanon that you made immortal.