Kahlil Gibran

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 our 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.


Terjemahan:


ANAKMU bukan anakmu!

“Anak adalah kehidupan, mereka sekedar lahir
melaluimu tetapi bukan berasal darimu.
Walaupun bersamamu tetapi bukan milikmu,
curahkan kasih sayang tetapi bukan memaksakan pikiranmu
karena mereka dikaruniai pikirannya sendiri.

Berikan rumah untuk raganya, tetapi tidak jiwanya, karena
jiwanya milik masa mendatang, yang tak bisa kau datangi
bahkan dalam mimpi sekalipun.

Bisa saja mereka mirip dirimu, tetapi jangan pernah
menuntut mereka jadi seperti sepertimu.
Sebab kehidupan itu menuju ke depan, dan
tidak tenggelam di masa lampau.

Kaulah busur, dan anak-anakmulah anak panah yang melucur.
Sang Pemanah mahatahu sasaran bidikan keabadian.
Dia menentangmu dengan kekuasaanNya,
Hingga anak panah itu melesat, jauh serta cepat.

Meliuklah dengan suka cita dalam rentangan tangan Sang Pemanah,
Sebab Dia mengasihi anak-anak panah yang melesat laksana kilat
Sebagaimana pula dikasihi-Nya busur yang mantap”.