亲情哲理散文诗：On Children

婚姻是爱情的殿堂，孩子是爱情的结晶。 用一首On Marriage为殿堂高举起明灯后，纪伯伦又以同样的哲理和细腻给这美丽而脆弱的结晶打造了基座。

On Children Kahlil Gibran

中英对照：

Your children are not your children.

They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.

你的儿女，其实不是你的儿女

他们是生命对于自身渴望而诞生的孩子

They come through you but not from you,

And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

他们借助你来到这世界，却非因你而来

他们在你身旁，却并不属于你

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,

For they have their own thoughts.

你可以给予他们的是你的爱

却不是你的想法

因为他们有自己的思想

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.

你可以庇护的是他们的身体，却不是他们的灵魂

因为他们的灵魂属于明天，属于你做梦也无法到达的明天

You may strive to be like them,

but seek not to make them like you.

For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

你可以拼尽全力，变得像他们一样

却不要让他们变得和你一样

因为生命不会后退，也不在过去停留

You are the bows from which your children

as living arrows are sent forth.

你是弓，儿女是从你那里射出的箭

弓箭手望着未来之路上的箭靶

The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,

and He bends you with His might

他用尽力气将你拉开，使他的箭射得又快又远

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.

怀着快乐的心情，在弓箭手的手中弯曲吧

因为他爱一路飞翔的箭，也爱无比稳定的弓