They Come Through You But Not From You

They come through you

but not from you.

And though they are with you

yet they belong not to you.

Your children are not your children.

They are sons and daughters

of Life's longing for itself.

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 thir 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 them

make 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 also loves

the bow that is stable.”

~ Kahlil Gibran