Your children are not your children.

They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing¹ for itself.

They come through you but not from you,

And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.

你的儿女并不是你的儿女

他们是生命自身憧憬的儿女

他们借助你来到这世界，却非自你而来

并且，尽管他们在你身旁，却并不属于你

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

你可以给予他们的是你的爱，却不是你的思想

因为他们有自己的思想

你可以庇护的是他们的身体，却不是他们的灵魂

因为他们的灵魂栖息于明日

那是你做梦也无法到达的地方

你可以拼尽力气变得和他们一样

却不可以让他们变得和你一样

因为生命不会后退，也不会逗留在昨日

You are the bows from which your children

As living arrows are sent forth².

The archer³ 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.

你是弓，儿女是从你那射出的

朝气蓬勃的箭

弓箭手望着无尽的前路上那箭靶

他用尽力气将你拉开

使他的箭可以射得又快又远

怀着愉快的心情在弓箭手的手中弯曲吧

因为他爱这飞翔着的箭

也爱那无比稳定的弓