纪伯伦：你的孩子不属于你

你的孩子

文|纪伯伦 翻译|尹建莉

你的孩子不属于你

他们是生命的渴望

是生命自己的儿女

经由你生 与你相伴

却有自己独立的轨迹 

给他们爱而不是你的意志

孩子有自己的见地

给他一个栖身的家

不要把他的精神关闭

他们的灵魂属于明日世界

你无从闯入 梦中寻访也将被拒

让自己变得像个孩子

不要让孩子成为你的复制

昨天已经过去

生命向前奔涌

无法回头 川流不息

你是生命之弓 孩子是生命之矢

幸福而谦卑地弯身吧

把羽箭般的孩子射向远方

送往无际的未来

爱——是孩子的飞翔

也是你强健沉稳的姿态

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.

纪·哈·纪伯伦（Kahlil Gibran）（1883-1931）是美籍黎巴嫩阿拉伯作家。被称为“艺术天才”“黎巴嫩文坛骄子”，是阿拉伯文学的主要奠基人。这首诗的题目虽为《论孩子》，具体内容却是论父母之道的。父母们常忽视了教育最为重要的目标之一——培养独立人格。他们总喜欢干预子女的一切重大人生选择。本诗指出孩子是独立的，是与父母平等的个体，父母只能给孩子以爱，却不能代替他们思想、灵魂的形成。