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.
Rebecca Lin 2014 Spring In USA
葉子姐，謝你在美語壇分享紀伯倫的《On Children》，他的話說充滿了智慧和哲理，頗受啟迪。孩子們長大後，總會離開我們，祝福孩子們遠走高飛的同時，心中也有幾分不舍和牽掛無數。我實在喜歡紀伯倫的作品，就去網上查詢了他的相關介紹，才知道他是美籍黎巴嫩阿拉伯詩人、作家、畫家，《On Children》來自他的散文詩《The Prophet》（先知），也是他的代表作。隨之，我找到了Richard Harris的朗誦版本，配上俄國當代Vladimir Volegov's的油畫作品做成了帖子。
在這個作品中，我感受到了作者平靜中流露出的淡淡的悲涼。
是啊，孩子長大了，我們做父母的也該放手讓他們展翅高飛了。