Fear
Khalil Gibran
About The Author
Gibran Khalil Gibran was a Lebanese -American writer, poet and visual artist, also considered a philosopher although he himself rejected the title. He is best known as the author of The Prophet, which was first published in the United States in 1923 and has since become one of the best-selling books of all time, having been translated into more than 100 languages.
More about ‘Rudyard Kipling’: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kahlil_Gibran
About The Poem
Gibran’s imagery of the irreversibility of water from stream to ocean, and of becoming ocean — these both inspire me deeply. I would suggest we are all on quite a journey of becoming. Some of that journey is becoming aware of our fears, and if we are lucky, becoming that which we seek. Some of that becoming is individual (I think…, I’m starting to wonder if there is such a thing as “individual”). Some of that becoming is communal — irrepressibly communal, even in the smallest levels of being witnessed by one good friend and listener.
Fear
by: Khalil Gibran
It is said that before entering the sea
a river trembles with fear.
She looks back at the path she has travelled,
from the peaks of the mountains,
the long winding road crossing forests and villages.
And in front of her,
she sees an ocean so vast,
that to enter
there seems nothing more than to disappear forever.
But there is no other way.
The river can not go back.
Nobody can go back.
To go back is impossible in existence.
The river needs to take the risk
of entering the ocean
because only then will fear disappear,
because that’s where the river will know
it’s not about disappearing into the ocean,
but of becoming the ocean.
डर
Transcreated by Vineet KKN ‘Panchhi’
ऐसा कहा जाता है कि समंदर से मिलने से पहले
दरिया को शायद बड़ा डर लगता है
जब पीछे मुड़ के देखता है दरिया
तो वापस पहाड़ों, जंगलों, मैदानों का हो जाऊँ
दरिया को ऐसा अक्सर लगता है
दरिया को शायद डर लगता है
कहाँ इतना बड़ा समंदर
और कहाँ मैं, छोटा सा दरिया
समंदर से मिलने का मतलब ही है,
के मैं ख़त्म हो जाऊँगा
अभी कम-से-कम दरिया तो हूँ
लोग पूछते हैं, अपना भी कुछ नाम है
समंदर से मिलूँगा ना
कहीं का नहीं रहूँगा
क्या कहलाऊँगा?
ख़त्म हो जाऊँगा!
पर दरिया भी वापस कहाँ जा पाता है
जहाँ मर्ज़ी से चला हो, बेचारा
जितना मर्ज़ी बड़ा हो, बेचारा
समंदर में जा के
बाकी दरियाओं की तरह
ये बेचारा भी खो जाता है
वापस कहाँ जा पाता है
पर बेचारे की क़िस्मत देखिये, दरिया को भी
समंदर से मिलने का जोखिम उठाना पड़ता है
समंदर की आँखों में आँखें डाल के
डरते-डरते, डर मिटाना पड़ता है
जोखिम उठाना पड़ता है
पर जो दरिया समंदर से ख़ुद मिलने जाता है
जो दरिया डर लगने के बावजूद,
समंदर की तरफ चलता जाता है
वोह दरिया, फिर दरिया नहीं रहता
वो दरिया, समंदर हो जाता है