这是黎巴嫩裔美国诗人纪伯伦的一首关于亲子关系的诗。我斗胆抛开原作，按照更符合中文的习惯将其略作编译。如果父母是弓，孩子是箭，射手就是上帝，是造物主，是孩子的天性。每个孩子都自带天命。不要试图和天做对，父母唯一能做的，就是尊重每个孩子的天性，因材施教，让花长成花，让树长成树。花和树都是不可或缺之美。
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.
– Kahlil Gibran
你的孩子，并不是你的孩子
他们是生命因对自身的渴望而孕育的儿女。
他们借由你来到这个世界，却并非因你而来。
他们在你身旁，但并不属于你。
你可以给予他们你的爱，
但你不能强塞给他们你的想法，
因为他们有自己的思想。
你可以呵护他们的身体，
但你无法圈养他们的灵魂。
因为他们的灵魂属于明天，你做梦都无法抵达的明天。
你可以拼尽全力，变得像他们一样， 但不要让他们变得跟你一样。
因为生命不会倒退，也从不在过去停留。
你是弓，儿女是从你那里射出的箭。
射手瞄准着未来之路上的目标， 他用尽力气把弓拉开，好让箭飞得又快又远。
就在射手的手里快乐地弯曲吧，
因为他爱那飞翔的箭，也爱稳定的弓。
——译｜西风
