We wanderers...
“We wanderers, ever seeking the lonelier way, begin no day where we have ended another day; and no sunrise finds us where sunset left us. Even while the earth sleeps we travel. We are the seeds of the tenacious plant, and it is in our ripeness and our fullness of heart that we are given to the wind and are scattered.” Khalil Gibran
“Wanderer of the Wind"
- 9 x 12 Mixed media painting (watercolour, coloured pencils, gel pen, and Posca pens) on watercolour paper.
Many levels of meaning
The idea of being a wanderer is a bit unnerving.
It is the first word that grabbed my attention. I love wandering, exploring, traveling, but I need to know that somewhere called home is always waiting for me.
Sometimes, “home” is temporary as in a hotel room in a foreign country we are visiting.
“Home” can also be our childhood home or the home of our ancestors. So that word has many meanings for each of us.
Khalil Gibran uses the word wander in a figurative sense. One can wander and still stay home.
Our physical place on earth is not as important as the quest to find our individual purpose. Fulfilment of some kind, is at the heart of the quotation.
We travel even when the earth sleeps.
Of course we do! The solution to a problem is often much clearer in the morning. Our minds do not stop working even when we sleep.
“No sunrise finds us where sunset left us” must mean that each day begins and ends with new possibilities… or new deceptions. The idea of change is suggested here I think. Nothing is permanent.
Seeds scattered by the wind (I love this!)
If we are seeds scattered by the wind, then we are given opportunities, to spread our knowledge or whatever it is we might discover that could be significant to our lives and to the benefit of others as well.
Forever an optimist, I believe Khalil Gibran sees humanity as a positive force while we are here on earth with “ripeness and fullness of heart”.
Unless of course, we are seeds sprung from weeds. And then my whole theory is destroyed.
Yes, we are wanderers of the wind, for good or for bad.
