Can an Artist be a Prophet... or a Scientist... or Social Justice Activist?

The Price of Prophecy

That sweet burden of revelation
entails a life-long separation—

A prophet cannot belong to family,
peers, nation, spouse or themselves

Devotion can only be to the One…
since even their all is hardly enough

Distraction is blasphemy
and attention is finite

This is no excuse to ever be unkind
as that would render a prophet unfit

Only a reminder of their apartness
as someone whose life is not theirs

Distance and generosity are closer
to one another than you imagine

For how can you lose anything
if nothing is yours to begin with?

The price of prophecy is sacrifice
renewed every sunrise and sunset.

— Yahia Lababidi, author of Learning to Pray