I'm sure many of you are familiar with this piece from The Prophet? Whenever I get myself into a worried snit about my kids I find relief in reading it. I hope you do too.
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.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
beautiful. i love the image of the parent as the bow.
I'm mortified that I haven't read The Prophet yet. I've read so many quotes from it. Okay, it'll be the next book after I finish the stack by my bed!
want my arrows?
I love this. When I was a kid, my mother was in a women's acapella group. There was a version of this that they sang, and it was beautiful. I may have to go dig out a tape of that....
I"ve always loved this passage. I don't know of any better advice for parents, and you seem to have made it your mantra.
I never read this before--and I needed it right this very minute
Post a Comment