When Joy Sits at Your Table

The self same well from which your laughter rises

Was off-time filled with your tears….

The deeper Sorrow carves into your being,

The more Joy you can contain.

Is not the cup that holds your wine,

The very cup that was burned in the potter's oven?

And is not the lute that soothes your spirit

The very wood that was hollowed with knives?

Some say Joy is greater than Sorrow

And others say Sorrow is the greater.

But I say unto you they are inseparable.

Together they come.

And when one sits with you at your table,

Remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.

— Khalil Gibran

Not everyone capable of hewing the wood knows how to carve the statue…  

— St. John of the Cross, The Living Flame Of Love