Gibran, a poet who hid exquisite tunes behind a mask of blank verse.

[YesNo]

I was not following a metre, but plain common song melody as Yes No hinted. I tried ardently to sing the song two or three times, thrilled by the exoticism of the lines. The instant I thought the poet on the other side of the ocean of time embraced and kissed me, the lines rearranged themselves and the blue print for the tune was revealed to me. The goose bumps all over on my body marked the exchange of energy and told me that the original tune has been unlocked and revealed to me. It was as if the kind poet looking across centuries pitied me and gave the key to me. It was such simple. My practical experience in this field now has taught me that fast rhythm and the unorthodox boldness to ignore unnecessary words is the key. I very much wished to recast and sing songs from the book The Prophet, especially the song, Of Children quoted by jersea, but withdrew from the attempt for fear of present inability to withstand the consequences from the song, sure to happen in my personal life. It was as if the poet ordered a large and bold NO. Someday I or someone else will do it. Once I had been thinking anyone can do anything on a poem, but now I am wise to know that approbation has to come across the realms of time.

I think that is how good poetry is created--by going to "the other side of the ocean of time".

Maybe someday you would get someone to sing or chant the words so we can hear it. The youtube links I found had music in the background, but the words were written out to be read not heard.

From what little I know about Gibran, I understand that only this volume of poetry was originally written in Arabic. The others were written in English. Maybe that is why you heard the "No".

[BiggyBigDog]

Sweet Honey in the Rock, the amazing DC women's vocal ensemble, created this musical version of On Children some 20-30 years ago -- I used to see them sing it when my daughter was little. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCVvoL_F5gA

And for the children's point of view, or pre-adult at least, here are some self-conscious girls singing an incredibly sophisticated, unbelievably beautiful version of the same song. It makes me cry to hear it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Srm2QtsqUyM Maybe because I'm getting older.

[YesNo]

Sweet Honey in the Rock, the amazing DC women's vocal ensemble, created this musical version of On Children some 20-30 years ago -- I used to see them sing it when my daughter was little. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCVvoL_F5gA

And for the children's point of view, or pre-adult at least, here are some self-conscious girls singing an incredibly sophisticated, unbelievably beautiful version of the same song. It makes me cry to hear it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Srm2QtsqUyM Maybe because I'm getting older.

They sounded good. I liked both versions. "You can strive to be like them but you cannot make them just like you" is a line that will likely stick with me.

[Buh4Bee]

To a certain extent, I can understand the deep personal temporal bond or attachment, one can experience when really jiving with what is being reading. It becomes hard to separate the personality of the writer from the words on the page.