Kahlil Gibran lahir di Bsherri, Lebanon, 6 Januari 1883. Dalam usia remaja bersama ibunya pindah ke Boston, Amerika Serikat. Setelah kembali ke Lebanon untuk mempelajari sastra Arab, mulai tahun 1905 karya-karyanya terbit dan menarik perhatian, terutama Sang Nabi. Ia memperluas pandangan sastra dan belajar melukis di Paris, kemudian menetap di New York, mendirikan studio "Pertapaan". Buku-bukunya yang terkenal selain Sang Nabi, juga Taman Sang Nabi, Pasir dan Buih, Sayap-Sayap Patah, Suara Sang Guru, Si Gila, Sang Pralambang, Sang Musyafir, dll. Ia meninggal 10 April 1931 karena sakit lever dan radang paru-paru.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

On Children by Gibran Khalil Gibran

On Children
Khalil Gibran

And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, Speak to us of Children. And he said: 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.

The Prophet

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