CHILDREN by Kahlil Gibran

Excerpts concerning children from 

The Prophet

by Kahlil Gibran

And a woman who held a babe in her arms said 

“Speak to us of children”. 

And he said: 

“Your children are not your children. 

They are the sons and daughters of life’s longing for itself. 

They come through but not from you 

and though they are with you 

yet they belong not to you.” 

- and- 

“You may give them your heart 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.”