The Works of Khalil Gibran and William H. Davies

The works of  Kahlil Gibran and Walter Davies cited in comments published under ND's "A Medley of  my Thoughts" are published here as a separate post for wider viewer attention.

On Children

 Kahlil Gibran - (January 6, 1883 – April 10, 1931) was a Lebanese-American artist, poet, writer and  philosopher. 

           
             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.

 

"Leisure" by William H Davies, the Welsh Poet (1871- 1940)

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?

No time to stand beneath the boughs,
And stare as long as sheep and cows:

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass:

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night:

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance:

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began?

A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.