Khalil Gibran, 'Love'

UPON THE SAND

Said one man to another,

“At the high tide of the sea,

long ago, with the point of

my staff I wrote a line upon

the sand; and the people

still pause to read it, and

they are careful that

naught shall erase it."

And the other man said,

And I to wrote a line upon

the sand, but it was at

low tide, and the waves

of the vast sea washed

it away. But tell me,

what did you write?"

And the first man

answered and said,

“I wrote this:

‘ I am he who is.'

But what did you write?"

And the other man said,

“This I wrote:

I am but a drop of

this great ocean.”

Khalil Gibran