Your Children are not Your Children
by 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.
© Kahlil Gibran, 1923, 1973.
Found
in Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet