The Gift of Poetry

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.

--Khalil Gibran

Many years ago, I befriended a geologist at Wayne State University. He gave The Prophet by Khalil Gibran to me as a gift. Every once in awhile, I turn to this book of poetry and find something new, or read something again with new eyes.

His words have soothed my soul and provoked my thoughts. I am grateful to the man who introduced me to this poet, and now, so many years later, wonder what compelled him to give this gift to me.