Poem on Children | By Kahlil Gibran

From My Heart To Yours:

"This masterpiece of Kahlil Gibran is a great point of reflection for parents like me on the aspect of raising our children." ~ jpco

felipe-music, CC0 Public Domain, via pixabay

Your children are not your children.

They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. 

They come through you 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.

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.

Public Domain Picture, pixabay

You may strive to be like them, 

but seek not to make them like you.

For life goes not backwards 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.

tpsdave, CC0 Public Domain, via pixabay

Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;

For even as He loves the arrow that flies,

so He loves also the bow that is stable.