Gibran

Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931) was among the most important Arabic language authors of the early twentieth century. He also went on to become a famous author and artist in his adopted country, the U.S., especially by virtue of the phenomenal popularity of his 1923 The Prophet.

(from http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jrcole/gibran/gibran1.htm)

See also: http://www.leb.net/gibran/

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 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 to-

morrow, 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 chil-

dren 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.

GB1-01

GB1 - The Prophet

Kahlil Gibran

Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.

New York

- 01 p. 17