Made in Richmond

As you can probably tell from my last post, I’m going through an over-the-moon phase for my kid right now. I’ve been feeling so good lately which has allowed me to be more present in my time with him, to soak him up and really enjoy him. Forgive me because the sappiness is about to get turned up to 11.

This morning we were playing in his room and listening to a CD given to us by the mother of the family I used to nanny for. There’s a song on it called “On Children,” adapted from a section in Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet. I think it’s perfect.

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.