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Picture taken by my friend Cyndi Leos....thank you Cyndi.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

On Children...

by Kahlil Gibran

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 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.

7 comments:

betty said...

I like to think our children are a gift from God for us to teach them about him :)

betty

Betty W said...

I love this! I´ve never seen it before and would like to ask, if it´s ok, if I post this on my blog. Maybe not right away, but someday. It spoke to me.

Donna B. said...

Betty, of course you can. You can google THE PROPHET or Kahil Gibran and find more of his poetry. He writes on marriage and all kinds of important subjects. I first found him in the 60's and have been a life long fan.

betty: I agree with you totally. It is God, Gibran refers to as the archer. The children are the arrows and we, parents, are the bow.

Teresa said...

that is beautiful! his poetry is awesome.

Donna B. said...

Hi Teresa: I really love his work, glad you enjoy it too.

DrSoosie said...

We can only hope our children will soar through life with confidence, a sense of purpose and the love from us deeply rooted in their hearts. What an inspirational piece...I love it. thank you for sharing and thank you for reading my blog. i truly appreciate it!!!

Susie

Donna B. said...

Hi Susie: Thank you for stopping by. I appreciate your voice. I hope you will stop by again and share more of your thoughts.