May We Always Remember This

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, 

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 loves also the bow that is stable.

"On Children"

by Kahlil Gibran