On Children poetry by Kahlil Gibran

 ON CHILDREN

                           - Kahlil Gibran

Background.

A woman who held a babe against her bosom said, "speak to us of children."

And he said:

Your children are not your children.

They are 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.

Summary.

This is a translation of a poem by the lebanese- American poet Kahlil Gibran. In this poem a woman holds her child against her bosom and asked the prophet to say something about the upbringing of the child. Giving answer to the woman the prophet says that our childrens are not really our children, for us to claim that we have control over them and they will listen to each and every world of ours. They stay with us, but do not belong to us . The prophet says that we have the right to only love our children but not shape their thoughts or conquer their souls. He says that parents can be like children, but children should not be like their parents because life flows forwards , not backward. The prophet gives the metaphor of bow to parents and the metaphor of arrow to children, and says that the bow has to be stable and stay behind in order to send the arrow ahead far into the distance. He reminds the woman and all parents that God loves the bow ( the parents) and the arrows( the children) equally.