In a lost letter that was found and published exclusively by an old Arab magazine, it was an answer to a question directed to him, the summary of which was:
“Who are you..?”,
So Gibran Khalil Gibran wrote saying:
“We are a nation that is dying but does not die, it has died a thousand times and has not died, and it will die a thousand times and remain alive, we are peoples who are defeated and subjugated on the surface, but remain victorious in their depths, we are the strong in our weakness, the victorious in our defeat, we are the ones who eat our hearts as food and drink our tears as wine, but we do not twist our necks or turn our faces away from the stars..
We are a knot that the days have not solved and will remain unsolved, we are a door whose keys have been lost and we will remain a closed door that hides behind its wide doors the secrets of bygone times and the secrets of coming times, we lament and in our lamentation the whisper of life, and others cheer and in their cheers The groan of death..
We are a scream that pierces the atmosphere, while others are a noise that disturbs the air, disturbing the alleys and streets..
We are an old song that memory repeats every morning and every evening, while others are a murmur in the sea and a utterance in the abyss..
We are a firm, permanent mountain, while others are ghosts that come with the darkness and fade with the fading of darkness..
We are a nation strong in its weakness, majestic in its concealment, speaking while silent and giving while begging, we are the burden of a thicket, while our enemy looks at us from a high place then descends and seizes us with his claws and bites our bodies with his beak, enjoying our taste, but he cannot swallow us and will not be able to swallow us..
We live at the crossroads, and no conqueror has passed by us without planting swords in our gardens and spears in our fields, imagining that they will grow laurel to crown his head with, but they only grow thorns and thistles..
You say that we are poor and needy.
Yes, we are poor because we have not learned theft, the arts of fraud, invasion and plunder. We have only harvested what we have sown and worn only what we have spun. We are a people who smile at those who laugh at us, but we do not laugh with them. We are a people who imitate our guests and the delegations sent to us, but we soon return to what we have when they leave us. We are a people whose skin is soft and smooth, but our bones are as thick as the veins of an oak tree. We are a people who dress according to each situation, but our hearts remain safe from phases and development.
As for our souls, they remain in the company of God.
How wonderful you are, Gibran