Nude Pride: “On Clothes”

The men are the same individual, just that one image (left) shows him clothed and in the other image, he’s equally happy and proudly bare. The purpose is to introduce the concept or idea that clothing doesn’t necessarily enhance our image, personality or presence. That’s the summary of the title of this post Nude Pride: “On Clothes.” The “On Clothes” is the title of a poem written by Kahlil Gibran and it dispels the dependence on clothing.

Here on ReNude Pride, the month of June is observed as the calendar period that celebrates gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer (GLBTQ) pride and bare (nude) pride. That’s the reason for including Kahlil Gibran’s “On Clothes” as the focus of this post. His poem cites the benefits of being clothes free.

“On Clothes”

by Kahlil Gibran

And the weaver said, “Speak to us of clothes.”

And he answered:

“Your clothes conceal much of your beauty, yet they hide not the unbeautiful.

And though you seek in garments the freedom of privacy,

you find in them a harness and a chain.

Would that you could meet the sun and the wind

with more of your skin and less of your rainment,

For the breath of life is in the sunlight

and the hand of life in in the wind.

Some of you say,

‘It is the north wind who has woven the clothes to wear.’

But shame was his loom,

and the softening of the sinews was his thread.

And when his work was done he laughed in the forest.

Forget not that modesty is for a shield

against the eye of the unclean.

And when the unclean shall be no more,

what were modesty but a fetter and a fouling of the mind?

And forget not that the earth delights

to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.”

Mr. Gibran’s poem is very appropriate for a month dedicated to the celebration of nude pride on a site devoted to the espousal of being a same gender loving (gay) bare practitioner (naturist or nudist). His message honoring the discarding of clothing is perfect for ReNude Pride as well as myself personally.

Those of us who live in he Northern Hemisphere, the “On Clothes” theme of sunlight and the wind is most welcome with the approaching summer season. For those residing in the Southern Hemisphere, the equally convenient theme of the “north wind” as the “weaver of clothes” is characterized with the admonishment that “shame was his loom.”

Kahlil Gibran was an avid fan of clothes freedom both for himself and all of humanity. This is evidenced not only in this poem but in other works that he wrote. In his mind, the beauty of our nudity was ample proof of the liberation that nature offered to all of us once we removed what covers our bodies and conceals our skin. Our joy and pride in being naked is equal if not better than the wondrous beauty that almost all of us appreciate in the natural world.

I honestly don’t know if Kahlil Gibran ever skinny-dipped (swimming nude). However, based on his works that I have read, I feel certain that he would be with the majority of the men in the above image (bare and proud). The discomfort of the man in the minority, (clothed in a swimsuit) would not be a conscious choice for him!

Naked hugs!

Roger/ReNude Pride