What is your favourite poem and why would you like to suggest that ?( just answer 50 words)
Answers
Answer:
am not really fond of poems. Honestly, most of the times I can’t even get the meaning!
BUT this poem from my high school is still imprinted in my mind ! So I can call it my favourite.
It’s Kahlil Gibran’s “On Children”.
Little background- Once Prophet Mohammad was preaching about life to a group of people of which a lady with a baby in her arms asks The Prophet to speak “On Children”. His preachings are nicely put in words by the poet Kahlil Gibran.
The poem reads like this.
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.
This particular poem is about parenting. As a daughter I feel, “Wow! This is perfect. This is what I want to tell my parents”
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you - This is something that every parent who treat their kids as their property should understand. You don’t own us. We don’t have to listen to your every word just because you gave us birth. Understand!
You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts. - For all the parents who want their kids to become only a doctor or an engineer, your kids too have their own ideas and plans. Kindly respect them. Don’t burden them with your thoughts!
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday. - We know, you used to walk kilometres to go to school, you never had Smartphones, TV, you never gave a back word to your parents, you married whom they wanted you to. Ok you are great! But life is not the same for us. There is evolution with every generation. We can’t be like you. This may be harsh, but this is the truth!
This is why “On Children” is my favourite poem. It’s on point! Hope future parents will be as said in the poem!
PS 1- Once I read this poem to my mother to make her understand my views on parenting and all I got back was few drops of tears:( and plenty of stories of how she has toiled hard to bring us ( me and my brother) up :P Indian mothers are so emotional!
PS 2- As a daughter, this feels perfect. But I really doubt as a parent how one cannot be emotionally attached to their kid. It’s difficult:(