The Old Wisdom

Dad and Mum like this poem by Gibran A LOT, and I think they really apply it when raising me and my other 2 sisters and brothers.

Children

By Kahlil Gibran in : the Prophet

 

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 can not 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 to be gladness;

for even He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves the bow that is stable.

 

TPRA, 04:37 AM April 10, 2003