- Children Are Not Possessions- Poem by Ray Lucero

Your children are not your children;

They are the sons and daughters life
longing for itself

They come through you but not from you,
Though they are with you they're not possessions

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 live in the house of tomorrow,
Which you cannot visit, even in your dreams

You may strive to be like them,
But seek not to make them like you
For life goes backward and lingers not with yesterday

You are the bows from which your children,
As living arrows are cast forth

The archer sees the mark upon the path of the Infinite,
And God Himself fills you with His Might that His
Arrows may go swift and far

Kahlil Gibran

(Interpretation by ROTMS)