Read text III to answer question.

TEXT III

On Children – Kalil 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 and 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 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 He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the

bow that is stable.

From The Prophet (Knopf, 1923). This poem is in Public Domain. Avalible on http:poets.org/poem/children-1. Accessed on June 10^th, 2024.