The "I" in me, my friend, dwells in the house of silence....

My friend, I am not what I seem. Seeming is but a garment I wear--a
care-woven garment that protects me from your questionings and you
from my negligence.

The "I" in me, my friend, dwells in the house of silence, and
therein it shall remain for ever more, unperceived, unapproachable.

I would not have you believe in what I say nor trust in what I
do--for my words are nothing but your own thoughts in sound and my
deeds your own hopes in action.

When you say, "The wind blows eastward," I say, "Yes it does
blow eastward"; for I would not have you know that my mind does
not dwell upon the wind but upon the sea.

You cannot understand my seafaring thoughts, nor would I have
you understand. I would be at sea alone.

When it is day with you, my friend, it is night with me; yet even
then I speak of the noontide that dances upon the hills and of
the purple shadow that steals its way across the valley; for you
cannot hear the songs of my darkness nor see my wings beating
against the stars--and I fain would not have you hear or see. I
would be with night alone.

When you ascend to your "Heaven" I descend to my "Hell"--even then
you call to me across the unbridgeable gulf, "My companion, my
comrade," and I call back to you, "My comrade, my companion"--for
I would not have you see my Hell. The flame would burn thy eyesight
and the smoke would crowd your nostrils. And I love my Hell too well
to have you visit it. I would be in Hell alone.

You love Truth and Beauty and Righteousness; and I for your sake
say it is well and seem to love these things. But in my heart
I laugh at your love. Yet I would not have you see my laughter.
I would laugh alone.

My friend, you art good and cautious and wise; nay, you are
perfect--and I, too, speak with you wisely and cautiously. And
yet I am mad. But I mask my madness. I would be mad alone.

My friend, you are not my friend, but how shall I make you
understand? My path is not your path, yet together we walk, hand
in hand.

by Khalil Gibran