Je suis libanais et fier de l'être. Je ne suis pas ottoman et fier de ne pas l'être ...
Je suis chrétien et fier de l'être. Mais j'aime le Prophète arabe et j'en appelle à la grandeur de son nom ; je chéris la gloire de l'Islam et crains qu'elle ne s'étiole ...
Le Chrétien que je suis et qui a logé Jésus dans une moitié de son coeur et Mahomet dans l'autre moitié, vous promet que si l'Islam ne réussit pas à vaincre l'Empire ottoman, les nations européennes domineront l'Islam.
Qui ne marche pas la tête haute, restera l'esclave de lui-même, et qui est l'esclave de lui-même ne peut pas marcher libre.
Ne vous demandez pas ce que votre nation peut faire pour vous mais ce que vous pouvez faire, vous, pour votre nation.
Un mot que je voudrais voir écrit sur ma tombe : " Je suis vivant comme vous et je suis maintenant à vos côtés. Fermez les yeux, regardez autour de vous, vous me verrez ... "
1891
Being eight years old, his father is accused of theft without a reason and all the family's goods are confiscated.
The family faces a precarious situation and, even after his father is publicly recognized as innocent three years later, this has to let them emigrate on their own to the new «Promised Land»: The United States.
1895
At the age of twelve, he disembarks in Boston, together with his mother and sisters, in a neighborhood of Chinese and Levantines. He enjoys a normal education, thanks to his mother's job as a seamstress. The head teacher of his school decides to shorten his name she and re-baptizes him as Kahlil Gibran, changing the order of the letters «h» and «a» of his father's name. This explains the fact that all of his future English work is signed as «Kahlil Gibran».
From now on Gibran will always be called as his father Khalil.
Thanks to his artistic talent, Gibran meets Fred Holland Day, a photographer for whom Gibran will pose. Day quickly becomes a friend of the family as well as their photographer and, in some way, an educated mentor for Gibran who will bring very much to the artist, who is improving fast in design.
Back in Boston, happy for all he has experienced and learnt from his roots, Gibran will tragically see, in just two years, how three members of his family die: tuberculosis kills his sister Sultana and then his stepbrother Pierre and finally, his beloved mother will leave him as well. He and his only remaining sister (Mariana), struggle with debts from his brother's shop.
1904
After two years fighting against debts, he turns back to his palette and it is during an exhibition of his paintings organized by his friend Day, that his life will change forever when he meet again with Mary Haskell, head teacher of his school. Being much older than him, she will, in turn, play different roles in his life: stepmother, patron of arts and guardian angel. From that moment on, she will play a decisive role in Gibran's fate. Gibran meets the editor of "Al Mouhajir"(The Immigrante), an Arab journal from New York in which our artist-painter starts publishing numerous articles in Arab language.
1905
Memorable year in Gibran's life, he publishes his first piece of work in Arab: «Al-Musiqa» followed a year later by «The Nymphs of The Valley». His singularity catches the attention of Arabs speakers and sets an style indisputability innovative: Writing poems in prose.
Under the warm, protective wing of Mary, and following the painful death of his mother, Gibran starts a very creative cycle.
1908
At the age of 25, being a quarter of a century old, critical age for everyone, he publishes his first and last novel: «Broken Wings». Thanks to the magic of his writing, the strength of his tears and pain, the poet achieves a sublime story of tragic love which borders on autobiography, piercing the heart of the reader.
A year before that, he publishes «Spirits Rebellious», a book in which he openly criticizes Arab society and reports its eroding sclerosis, due to sectarianism, both religious and sexual (machismo). His freedom of speech leads to a book burning in the public square of Beirut as well as the unfair label of «dangerous revolutionary and venom for youth».
He embarks towards what he thinks is the «hearth of the world»: Paris, in order to study painting, sponsored by his best friend Mary.
Continues in Part 2/3
Translation by: Gema Márquez Hernández
