Customer Reviews

Broken Wings

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Broken Wings is a simple story which serves as a canvas for Kahlil Gibran's flights of beautiful prose and philosophical insight. Gibran's prose is simply redolent with images. His evocative narration paints pictures with words which both took me away and taught me. Gibran's point is so much more clear and simply arresting for the crispness of his imagery, such as when he writes: "Those ample treasure chests that the energy of the father and the thrift of the mother fill up are transformed into dark, narrow prison cells for their heirs. That mighty deity whom the people worship in the form of money metamorphoses into a horrifying demon who tortures the people and kills the heart." (p.51)

There were several thoughts of Gibran's that I found similarly significant. In talking about the blossoming of love, Gibran writes that love is not "born of long association and unbroken companionship." Instead, he writes, it is "the daughter of a spiritual understanding, and if that understanding is not achieved in a single moement, it will never be attained -- not in a year, not in a whole century" (p. 41). My limited experience leads me to believe precisely this. Likewise, I agreed with Gibran when he writes that "Limited love demands possession of the beloved, but infinite love desires only its own essence" (p. 97).

If Gibran has a fundamental message in Broken Wings, though, I think that it is surrounding the tension or balance between putting everything that we can into our love and our endeavors, and the need to contextualize that love or endeavor in such a way that it does not consume that which we are. Gibran's narrator struggles with this tension. He wants to spirit Salma away to a life of true love. He wants her to break her word to her father and follow her heart. Mostly, he doesn't want her to give up on their love. His defense of this course of action is passionate: "For the soul to experience torment because of its perseverance in the face of trials and difficulties is more noble than for it to retreat to a place of safety and calm. The moth that contines to flutter about the lamp until it burns up is more exalted than the mole that lives in comfort and security in its dark tunnel" (p.73).

The imagery is again evocative, and certainly, I think, speaks to me: if you are to pursue life, pursue it like the moth -- soaring to unimagined heights and experiences. Don't be a mole who attempts to prolong his life by simply hiding himself away -- but never really experiencing life. Live, don't simply preserve an unlived life. Such a good reminder for us.

Love (and any endeavor, I imagine) isn't always so black-and-white, though. Salma's understanding is deeper and more complicated: before even her emotions and her love, she places her commitment to her father and to her (unloving) husband. There is incredible power in her choosing integrity over running away to a love which Gibran paints as being the fulfillment of all of our hopes for love. There is some unspoken insight here about integrity and commitment, I think. It is, perhaps, part of the foundation of love itself, a necessary ingredient for its presence.

One day it is my dream to pay hommage to my great teacher of life, Khalil Gibran. And I would like to go to his grave site in Lebanon and have a copy of "The Broken Wings" to read for his spirit.I think that tears (under certain conditions) are a cleanser to the human soul, and no literature piece has ever moved me as much as Gibrans Broken Wings. If there is ONE book that I will recommend, let it be the "Broken Wings". May Gibrans wisdom, art, passions, and art accompany you for the rest of your life.

In the Broken Wings, Gibran touches a variety of subjects like love, plight of women, hypocracy of self serving religious heads, false values on which human socities are built, and true prayer and sacrifice. And all is told in very few majestically beautiful words without malice to any one.
"Love is the only freedom in the world because it so elevates the spirit that laws of humanity do not alter its course."
" Love is the offspring of spiritual affinity and ..........is created in a moment."
Gibran says of the plight of the women by describing them as
" the bird with broken wings in a cage."
Of heads of religions, Gibran says, "Thus the Christian Bishop and the Moslem imam and the Brahman priest are like sea reptiles who clutch their prey with many tentacles and suck their blood with numerous mouths." How true are these words!
Gibran tells how "in some countries, the parent's wealth is a source of misery for the children."
Yet the woman in the story, although falling in the abyss of miseries, prays "help me, my Lord, to be strong in this deadly struggle and assist me to be truthful and virtuous until death. Thy will be done, oh Lord God."
And finally she sacrifices her own life fot he sake of her beloved thus bringing glory to "sacrifice."
Tears rolled down my cheeks while reading the tragic end of the story. But I felt these tears have cleansed my spirit.
The reading of The Broken Wings is a must for any one who wants to experience a tearful smile or a sorrowful joy or miseries for a true prayer.

If writers are surgeons of the heart, this piece by Gibran is an open heart surgery
For those who have been in love and have "lost" it some where along the way and were unable to sustain it within their human means, this will indeed rekindle all those bygone feelings
And for those who have never been in love, this book will give you a taste of the beauty and wonders of love and also a flavour of how deathening it is when it slips away from your fingers
Gibran to me equates life to a sentence, and love is the full stop that completes it
Without love from another, living becomes meaningless
It will be like wishing to fly and soar the skies without wings to do so

Gibran says, "I was eighteen years of age when love opened my eyes with its magic rays and touched my spirit for the first time with its fiery fingers and Selma Karamy was the first woman who awakened my spirit with her beauty and led me into the garden of high affection, where days pass like dreams and nights like weddings."

In his typical lyrical prose, interlaced with subtle imagery and deep philosophy, Kibran creates a masterpiece of first love. The story is poignant, and is full of platonic ideals, so characteristic of first love, especially in the East. I say so, as in the East, be it South Asia or the Middle East, first love is a cherished territory where spirituality overwhelms every idea of sexuality. The prose is delightful in content as well as intent, and is laced with a wisdom, so reminiscent of his most famous work, the Prophet.

Gibran always wrote short novels, and this one too is a short, but intense read. The sentences are rich with poetic descriptions, and the way author describes nature and love is refreshing, soothing, and beautiful.

I recommend Gibran to one and all. His writings may not appeal to you if you are looking for cheap thrills, but if you pine for a love story that defies the usual pot-broiler stuff, a love story full of purity and selflessness, read this one.

The power to love is God's greatest gift to man, for it never will be taken from the blessed one who loves.(Gibran) I am a fan of Kahlil Gibran and more than that I get steered spiritually when I read his books. As for Broken Wings well that book is surely one that has the greatest love story ever told. This first love of his was inspirational and has brought him along way into many many books. All of them written with emotion and with what we would say as of today with truth. How many of us would agree to social norms? Well as teenagers surely we hated society as they curbed our very life style, but this man with his first experience has really written so many books. He was truly an inspired person as no one could write so much on spirituality. Whatever his lifestyle, we are no judges for that. The books are what matter most. Most authors till date are not as young as he was and probably envy his being young and gifted into the world of TRUTH. We are still seeking what he already had.

I hadn't read any Gibran until reading Juan Cole's remarkable translation of 'Broken Wings'. It is a truly moving and beautiful piece of writing. I can't imagine anyone doing a better job of rendering this astonishing work into English. Though written in prose, it reads like the best poetry. It's opened my eyes to Gibran and I now want to read more of his work.

10 years after my initial review, this book still resonates. The Broken Wings is a wildly hyptotic love story that will carve a special scar within the depths of your heart. Kahlil Gibran is a maestro of lyrical writing. His pieces are timeless. The Broken Wings should be a requirement for any student of philosophy, love, life.

Calling Kahlil Gibran a poet is an understatement and this short story proves it. It is a simple story but one that will break your heart. Still, you will be glad you read it...(experienced it rather)! It will take you to another world, another era, stimulate your mind and touch your heart.

More than a heart rending love story with a tragic ending, this book, one of Gibran's lesser known works, is a compelling commentary on the condition of women in the Middle Eastern societies of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. What I like most about Gibran's work is his beautiful prose replete with evocative imagery; that quality is displayed extravagantly in this novel. Don't pass this one up if you admire Gibran! :-)