Then an old man, a keeper of an
inn, said, "Speak to us of Eating and Drinking."
And he said:
Would that you could live on the fragrance of the earth, and like an
air plant be sustained by the light.
But since you must kill to eat, and rob the young of its mother's milk
to quench your thirst,
let it then be an act of worship, and let your board stand an altar on
which the pure and the
innocent of forest and plain are sacrificed for that which is purer and
still more innocent in many.
When you kill a beast say to him in your heart,
"By the same power that slays you, I to am slain; and I too shall be
consumed.
For the law that delivered you into my hand shall deliver me into a
mightier hand.
Your blood and my blood is naught but the sap that feeds the tree of
heaven".
And when you crush an apple with your teeth, say to it in your heart,
"Your seeds shall live in my body,
And the buds of your tomorrow shall blossom in my heart,
And your fragrance shall be my breath,
And together we shall rejoice through all the seasons".
And in the autumn, when you gather the grapes of your vineyard for the
winepress, say in you heart,
"I too am a vineyard, and my fruit shall be gathered for the winepress,
And like new wine I shall be kept in eternal vessels".
And in winter, when you draw the wine, let there be in your heart a song
for each cup;
And let there be in the song a remembrance for the autumn days, and for
the vineyard, and for the winepress.
~Gibran Khalil Gibran~
Eating and Drinking
The Prophet (1923)
