On Children

And 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 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.