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A Voice in the Wilderness

As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there's a twilight where everything remains seemingly unchanged, and it is in such twilight that we must be aware of change in the air, however slight, lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness. -- William O. Douglas

Thursday, April 03, 2008

On Children - Kahlil Gibran


On Children
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 our 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.

1 Comments:

At Mon Apr 07, 08:23:00 PM MDT, Blogger Cara said...

In 1975 I moved from Santa Rosa to Santa Fe and consequently I would drive home frequently to visit my parents. About this time I discovered The Prophet and other books by Gibran (The Madman was always my favorite).

Now here's where it gets scary....I used to read while driving (I know, I know - a terrible thing to do.)And during this time I memorized quite a bit of The Prophet including this particular passage.

Whenever I run across something from The Prophet I remember those years in Santa Fe and smile...those were interesting years.

In regards to this particular passage, I have to say that this had a huge influence on the way I raised my son. So when he passed, I tried very hard to be the bow that was stable...

 

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