親情哲理散文詩：論孩子

婚姻是愛情的殿堂，孩子是愛情的結晶。 用一首On Marriage爲殿堂高舉起明燈後，紀伯倫又以同樣的哲理和細膩給這美麗而脆弱的結晶打造了基座。獨立人格是教育最爲重要的目標之一,但我們"君君臣臣父父子子"的文化往往讓很多父母忽略了這一點。子女就像他們昂貴的衣服;漂亮的首飾;擦拭一新的汽車，代表他們的社會地位和生活水平。他們把子女當成自己的延伸，想讓子女實現他們未盡的夢想，逼着喜歡讀書的兒子走上足球場;迫使喜歡運動的女兒苦讀書本,似乎孩子不過是他們的複製品，殊不知DNA的結合將會創造出人類一切創造的來源——全新的生命和思想。青春期的叛逆很多時候只是本能覺醒出的獨立人格的一種自我救贖。

　　On Children 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 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.

　　中英對照：

你的兒女，其實不是你的兒女

他們是生命對於自身渴望而誕生的孩子

他們藉助你來到這世界，卻非因你而來

他們在你身旁，卻並不屬於你

你可以給予他們的是你的愛

卻不是你的想法

因爲他們有自己的思想

你可以庇護的是他們的身體，卻不是他們的靈魂

因爲他們的靈魂屬於明天，屬於你做夢也無法到達的明天

你可以拼盡全力，變得像他們一樣

卻不要讓他們變得和你一樣

因爲生命不會後退，也不在過去停留

你是弓，兒女是從你那裏射出的箭

弓箭手望着未來之路上的箭靶

他用盡力氣將你拉開，使他的箭射得又快又遠

懷着快樂的心情，在弓箭手的手中彎曲吧

因爲他愛一路飛翔的箭，也愛無比穩定的弓