Your children
Your children are not your children.
They are sons and daughters
Of the call of Life to itself.
They come through you but not from you.
And, although they are with you,
They don't belong to you.
You can give them your love
But not your thoughts
Because they have their own thoughts.
You can welcome their bodies
But not their souls
Because their souls live in the house of tomorrow
Which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You can strive to be like them
But don't try to make them like you
Because life doesn't go backwards,
Nor dwell on yesterday.
You are the bows by which your children
Like living arrows are thrown.
The Archer sees the goal on the path to infinity
And He extends His power to you so that His arrows
Can fly fast and far.
Let your tension by the hand of the Archer
Or for joy
For just as he loves the arrow that flies
He likes the bow which is stable.
Khalil Gibran