Tracey Adams And Vietnam 2

Khalil Gibran, "On Children"






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 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.

Marianna, Kahlil's Sister. Painting by Kahlil Gibran

http://www.katsandogz.com/gibran.html

"Sur les Enfants"

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And a woman holding a baby against her bosom said, "Speak to us of Children." Then he replied:

"Your children are not your children.
They are the son and daughters of Life who thirst for life again and again.
They emerge through you but not from you,
And though they are with you, they are not yours.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
Car they think for themselves.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
you can not visit, even in your dreams.
You can go through the trouble to look like them,
but do not try to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children are projected as living arrows. Archer takes to line of sight path of the infinite,
and here is all His might that His
arrows with speed and rush out of sight.
And when you Her hand bends, either, so for the greater joy
For even as he loves the arrow that cleaves the air, he loves the bow that does not tremble. "

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