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 like them
But see not to make them like you
For life goes not backwards
Not tarries with yesterday
You are the bows from which your childrens as
living arrows are sent forth

Kahil Gibran - prophet