Poem In Your Pocket Day 2026: "Fear" by Kahlil Gibran

Today, the last day of National Poetry Month, is also Poem In Your Pocket Day, and I am carrying around a thoughtful piece by the legendary Lebanese-American writer, poet, and visual artist Kahlil Gibran. It speaks to a cycle and a greater order that we might not see from our possibly limited vantage point. I will be sharing it with others and synchronicity will make certain it finds its way to someone who needs to hear it.

Fear
by Kahlil Gibran

It is said that before entering the sea
a river trembles with fear.

She looks back at the path she has traveled,
from the peaks of the mountains,
the long winding road crossing forests and villages.

And in front of her,
she sees an ocean so vast,
that to enter
there seems nothing more than to disappear forever.

But there is no other way.
The river can not go back.

Nobody can go back.
To go back is impossible in existence.

The river needs to take the risk
of entering the ocean
because only then will fear disappear,
because that’s where the river will know
it’s not about disappearing into the ocean,
but of becoming the ocean.