作家紀伯倫：你的孩子不屬於你

你的孩子

文|紀伯倫 翻譯|尹建莉

你的孩子不屬於你

他們是生命的渴望

是生命自己的兒女

經由你生 與你相伴

卻有自己獨立的軌跡

給他們愛而不是你的意志

孩子有自己的見地

給他一個棲身的家

不要把他的精神關閉

他們的靈魂屬於明日世界

你無從闖入 夢中尋訪也將被拒

讓自己變得像個孩子

不要讓孩子成為你的複製

昨天已經過去

生命向前奔湧

無法回頭 川流不息

你是生命之弓 孩子是生命之矢

幸福而謙卑地彎身吧

把羽箭般的孩子射向遠方

送往無際的未來

愛——是孩子的飛翔

也是你強健沉穩的姿態

原文

On Children

Gibran

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 thought

For they have their own thoughts.

You may house their bodies but not their soul

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.

紀·哈·紀伯倫（Kahlil Gibran）（1883-1931）是美籍黎巴嫩阿拉伯作家。被稱為“藝術天才”“黎巴嫩文壇驕子”，是阿拉伯文學的主要奠基人。這首詩的題目雖為《論孩子》，具體內容卻是論父母之道的。父母們常忽視了教育最為重要的目標之一——培養獨立人格。他們總喜歡乾預子女的一切重大人生選擇。本詩指出孩子是獨立的，是與父母平等的個體，父母只能給孩子以愛，卻不能代替他們思想、靈魂的形成。