Marriage

love one another, but make not a bond of love
let it rather be a moving sea
between the shores of your souls.
fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.
give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.

sing and dance together and be joyous
but let each one of you be alone.
even as the strings of a lute are alone
though they quiver with the same music.

give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping
for only the hand of life can contain your hearts.
and stand together yet not too near together
for the pillars of the temple stand apart
and the oak tree and the cypress
grow not in each other's shadow.

Of Marriage
from the Prophet of
Kahlil Gibran