Posted by pmcconne on May 8, 2016May 21, 2017

By Halina Kurowska
May 08, 2016

As May rolls in and motherhood is on our minds, I’m reminded once again about the sublime poem, “On Children,” by the great mystic poet Kahlil Gibran. The insight into mothering that he shares with us greatly influenced my parenting. Remembering that ‘my children are not my children’ helped me to realize long ago that they are Souls that chose to come through me and spend this lifetime with me, yet they do not belong to me. “They belong to life itself.”

My role as a mother is simply to love and cherish their presence in my life while supporting them on their journey through life. Guiding gently and loving deeply while fully realizing that they are their Own Beings. I must say, it is a privilege to honour and celebrate the beauty of their lives.
Here I’m sharing these beautiful words that had a huge and wonderful impact on my life.

ON CHILDREN

An excerpt from “The Prophet” by Kahlil 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 are 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.