Do not love half lovers.
Do not entertain half friends.
Do not indulge in works of the half talented.
Do not live half a life,
and do not die a half death.
If you choose silence, then be silent.
When you speak, do so until you are finished.
Do not silence yourself to say something,
And do not speak to be silent.
If you accept, then express it bluntly-
Do not mask it.
If you refuse, then be clear about it,
for an ambiguous refusal is but a weak acceptance.
Do not accept half a solution.
Do not believe half-truths.
Do not dream half a dream.
Do not fantasize about half hopes.
Half a drink will not quench your thirst.
Half a meal will not satiate your hunger.
Half the way will get you no where.
Half an idea will bear you no results.
Your other half is not the one you love;
It is you in another time, yet in the same space.
It is you when you are not.
Half a life is a life you didn’t live,
A word you have not said,
A smile you postponed,
A love you have not had,
A friendship you did not know;
To reach and not arrive,
Work and not work,
Attend only to be absent;
What makes you a stranger to them closest to you
and they strangers to you.
The half is a mere moment of inability-
but you are able, for you are not half a being.
You are a whole that exists to live a life,
not half a life.
Do not love half lovers.
Do not entertain half friends.
Do not indulge in works of the half talented.
Do not live half a life,
and do not die a half death.
If you choose silence, then be silent.
When you speak, do so until you are finished.
Do not silence yourself to say something,
And do not speak to be silent.
If you accept, then express it bluntly-
Do not mask it.
If you refuse, then be clear about it,
for an ambiguous refusal is but a weak acceptance.
Do not accept half a solution.
Do not believe half-truths.
Do not dream half a dream.
Do not fantasize about half hopes.
Half a drink will not quench your thirst.
Half a meal will not satiate your hunger.
Half the way will get you no where.
Half an idea will bear you no results.
Your other half is not the one you love;
It is you in another time, yet in the same space.
It is you when you are not.
Half a life is a life you didn’t live,
A word you have not said,
A smile you postponed,
A love you have not had,
A friendship you did not know;
To reach and not arrive,
Work and not work,
Attend only to be absent;
What makes you a stranger to them closest to you
and they strangers to you.
The half is a mere moment of inability-
but you are able, for you are not half a being.
You are a whole that exists to live a life,
not half a life.
You can hear a narration of this here.
I’m not totally against halfs but there is a powerful message here for all of us. Most of us spend our waking hours half asleep and our sleeping hours half awake! Half solutions will not solve your problems.
Kahlil Gibran, I thank you for your creativity and inspiration.