Half (Poem by Kahlil Gibran)

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Do not love half-lovers
Do not entertain half-friends
Do not indulge in works of the half-talented
Do not live half a life,
And do not die a half death.
If you choose silence, then be silent.
When you speak, do so until you are finished.
Do not silence yourself to say something,
And do not speak to be silent.
If you accept, then express it bluntly;
Do not mask it.
If you refuse then be clear about it,
For an ambiguous refusal is but a weak acceptance.
Do not accept half a solution
Do not believe half truths
Do not dream half a dream
Do not fantasize about half hopes
Half a drink will not quench your thirst
Half a meal will not satiate your hunger
Half the way will get you no where
Half an idea will bear you no results
Your other half is not the one you love
It is you in another time yet in the same space
It is you when you are not.
Half a life is a life you didn’t live,
A word you have not said,
A smile you postponed,
A love you have not had,
A friendship you did not know;
To reach and not arrive,
Work and not work,
Attend only to be absent,
What makes you a stranger to them closest to you,
and they strangers to you.
The half is a mere moment of inability
but you are able for you are not half a being
You are a whole that exists to live a life.
Not half a life.