Your
children are not your children.
They are
the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come
through you but not from you,
And
though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.
You may
give them your love but not your thoughts.
For they
have their own thoughts.
You may
house their bodies but not their souls,
For their
souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your
dreams.
You may
strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life
goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are
the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The
archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His
might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your
bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even
as He loves the arrow that flies,
So, He/She loves also the bow that is stable
By Khalil
Gibran
