~Children~

Your children 
are not your children.

They are the sons 
and daughters
  of Life's longings 
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 
backwards
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

Kahlil Gibran - The Prophet

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~We shall be known by the tracks we leave behind ~