mystykit

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of 

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of 
Lifes longing for itself.
They came 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.

Khalil Gibran