Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
你的孩子,并不是你的孩子。
他们是因为对生命有渴望而诞生的孩子。
They come through you but not for you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
他们经由你来到这个世界,却非为你而来,
他们在你身旁,却并不属于你。
You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
你可以给予他们的 是你的爱,却不是你的想法,
因为他们有自己的思想
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.
你可以庇护的是他们的身体,却不是他们的灵魂,
因为他们的灵魂属于明天,属于你做梦也无法达到的明天。
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.