The thread of years

On Children On Children (from The Prophet)

Kahlil Gibran · The parent's own shelf · for grown-ups

Gibran's short passage on what it means to raise a child you do not own — that they come through you but not from you, and that your task is to be a steady bow, not to aim the arrow.

Why it belongs It is the whole posture of this library in a page. The Prophet entered the public domain in the United States in 1923, so On Children can sit here whole, in English and in fresh translations we make ourselves.

• Belovedness and the secure base
• The thread of years

In English, Arabic audiobook plain language

Cover: A worn cloth-bound book with gilt lettering, held open to a single short poem.