My interpretation... is that it is someone almost arguing with their own thoughts... Seven times have I despised my soul: The first time when I saw her being meek that she might attain height. I despised my inner self for being afraid when I could have been more bold and achieved more than I would have. The second time when I saw her limping before the crippled. I despised my inner self for not trying as hard as I could have when people with less than me did more. The third time when she was given to choose between the hard and the easy, and she chose the easy. I despised my inner self for choosing the easier options. The fourth time when she committed a wrong, and comforted herself that others also commit wrong. I despised my inner self when I believed the wrongs I have done are not that bad because others have also committed them. The fifth time when she forbore for weakness, and attributed her patience to strength. I despised my inner self for telling myself I waited as a virtue when, what I really wanted to do was act. The sixth time when she despised the ugliness of a face, and knew not that it was one of her own masks. I despised my inner self for viewing others as ugly even though we are all human and that it could just as easily be me. And the seventh time when she sang a song of praise, and deemed it a virtue. I despised my inner self for telling me that I am such a great person, despite how much I despise my inner self. Nice poem by the way first time I've read it, I really like it.

Haha I don't know if I can give a poem definite meaning, but I will give it a shot. I view the poem as criticizing humanity and in this particular line he states that in the prescence of real pain and torment we are only concerned with ourselves. Basically we (as humans) are apathetic self serving beasts Just what i took from it

Seven times have I despised my soul: The first time when I saw her being meek that she might attain height. *Duplicity* The second time when I saw her limping before the crippled. *Condescension or Insensitivity* The third time when she was given to choose between the hard and the easy, and she chose the easy. *Sloth* The fourth time when she committed a wrong, and comforted herself that others also commit wrong. *Rationalization* The fifth time when she forbore for weakness, and attributed her patience to strength. *procrastination* The sixth time when she despised the ugliness of a face, and knew not that it was one of her own masks. *oblivious superficiality or vanity* And the seventh time when she sang a song of praise, and deemed it a virtue. *self righteousness* I can relate to the author because many of the qualities I hated about myself, I only saw them when I was observing my own brother and realized he was behaving exactly as I was. He became a mirror of who I was and I did not like what I saw.

There's an English expression that carries the meaning. "I complained about my shoes until I met a man with no feet". In this modern world, particularly in the West, we tend to embellish our feelings and perspectives too much. Someone who's hungry will say "I'm starving!" when they have no idea what it is like to be in starvation. I think this trait might be what the poet is criticizing in the human soul. That's just my guess having not read the poem myself. ;)

@Alan,yes，I‘ve read 《The Prophet》 in chinese version two years ago :P I’ve also read his《Sand and Foam》.Those books gave me a lot of inspirations.Love it.