Picture by Eki Qushay Akhwan
Kahlil Gibran (1883 - 1931), a Lebanese American artist, poet, writer, philosopher, theologian, and one of my favorite poets ever, once wrote this about children:
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 childrenas 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 our 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.
To me, no other accounts of children have ever been more sublime than this. Those children in the picture are not just the citizens of Bandung; they are the citizens of the world, the future, and our hearts and souls.
9 comments:
I love that poem and had to chuckle at the "You may give them your love, but not your thoughts" as when you have an adult child as I do, that is a struggle sometimes.
Wonderful post as always..
Eki..you teach literature?
What a great post.. I remeber these velcro walls from when I was a kid. You don't see them much anymore which is sad. Someone more thanlikley was hurt,then sued, then they were band in an over reaction ;-(
This must be one of the most unique shot of children I have ever seen. Is the background and the children's costume done deliberately?
The children looked like they were having lotsa fun.
Children are THE future, not just ours. Thanks for sharing the lovely poem.
Let me be the first to say how lovely your quote was today. I am ashamed to say that I don't believe that I have ever heard it until now. What a Perfect accompaniment to your delightful photo.
keren fotonya
Nice photo and poem! Thank you.
Hey, that's cool! How are they hanging up there? Mark said velcro — it can handle the weight? They should have one for big kids like me! ;D
Beautiful post!
how a great picture it is.. you are right choosing photography as your interest
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