Your children
Your children are not your children
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 don't belong to you.
You may give them your love
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 can't 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
are sent forth as living arrows
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.
