A book on a poet’s love that is sure to capture the souls of many a romantics out there...
Its the story of Kahlil Gibran’s first love written very poignantly and poetically...
Kahlil meets Selma Karamy, who is the daughter of his father’s friend, in Beirut. Its love all the way for both of them, as love between friends, as love between siblings and as lover between lovers! What else would you call it as except ’’Love between Soul mates’’....?
His description of Selma, her beauty, her virtue is so beautiful that the reader can fall in love with her or with the poet who so beautifully describes her...
There is one sentence that really stayed with me for a long time...
’’Real beauty lies in the spiritual accord that is called love which can exist between a man and a woman’’
Fate however has got other plans for them in the form of marriage to Selma brought about by pressure to Selma’s father. There is yet another wisdom here of Gibran which points out how money spells many a doom for the offspring’s of the rich...how money decides the life for them and how they are forced to follow the dollar irrespective of what their heart wants or feels!
The plight of oriental women where marriage is concerned is yet another bold thought by the poet of the early nineties. A woman being regarded as a commodity to be purchased and being treated like an old piece of furniture is yet another eye-opener too. Selma is being treated like one, taking her father’s riches to her husband’s home only to be treated like yet another possession in the family.
The lovers do meet once a month after marriage only to stop on Selma’s decision that ’’Limited love asks for possession of the beloved, but the unlimited asks only for itself.’’..From then, the lovers meet only in their hearts...
The story continues with Selma’s struggle to free herself from the bondage of a loveless life. A touching end moves us to tears along with kahlil gibran.
This book is not just a poetical prose...it is a lover’s precious rose!
Read it to enjoy its beauty and fragrance.....