On Children by Khalil Gibran

After many days, I am posting. I was busy reading few important books and travelling. On my reading saga, I came across this poem by Khalil Gibran, on children. Few days back, I had a discussion with my friend on poets and my stand was for the ones who are exceptional in their ideas and simple in their web of words and surely Khalil Gibran is one of them. I like the language used by him, which is very simple to understand and easy to interpret. This poem surely is for every parent and every individual who would one day be a parent. Such simple words and so difficult to implement. May be this poem was written very long back, but in the present world and time this has to be taken seriously.

The poem ...

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.