Best known as the author of The Prophet, Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931) was a Lebanese-American writer and poet. The book has been widely translated into more than 100 languages.

While studying art in Paris, he encountered Syrian political thinkers who promoted rebellion in Ottoman Syria after the Young Turk Revolution.

Elvis Presley admired The Prophet after receiving his first copy as a gift from his girlfriend, June Juanico, in July 1956. 

A line from his poem, stating "Half of what I say is meaningless, but I say it so that the other half may reach you," was used by John Lennon and adapted—though slightly modified—into the song "Julia" on the Beatles' 1968 album, "The White Album". 

I'm sharing one of his celebrated poems, 'Defeat.' Read on - 

Defeat, my Defeat, my solitude and my aloofness;

You are dearer to me than a thousand triumphs,

And sweeter to my heart than all world-glory.

Defeat, my Defeat, my self-knowledge and my defiance,

Through you I know that I am yet young and swift of foot

And not to be trapped by withering laurels.

And in you I have found aloneness

And the joy of being shunned and scorned.

Defeat, my Defeat, my shining sword and shield,

In your eyes I have read

That to be enthroned is to be enslaved,

And to be understood is to be leveled down,

And to be grasped is but to reach one’s fullness

And like a ripe fruit to fall and be consumed.

Defeat, my Defeat, my bold companion,

You shall hear my songs and my cries and my silences,

And none but you shall speak to me of the beating of wings,

And urging of seas,

And of mountains that burn in the night,

And you alone shall climb my steep and rocky soul.

Defeat, my Defeat, my deathless courage,

You and I shall laugh together with the storm,

And together we shall dig graves for all that die in us,

And we shall stand in the sun with a will,

And we shall be dangerous.