Children

Kahlil Gibran

Your children are not your children
They are the sons and daughters of life's longing 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 soul,
For their souls dwell in the house fo tomorrow,
wich you cannot visit, even in your dream>
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 bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
Their archers sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bneds you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far
Let your bneding in the archer's hand be for gladness:
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He also the bow that is stable