Am                     G
Your children are not your children.
              F                                        G
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself,
            F                  Am
They come through you, but not from you
                 G                             Am
And though they're with you, they belong to themselves.
 
[Verse 2]
         Am                                 G
You may give them your love, but not your thoughts.
        F                        G
For they have thoughts of their own,
         F                                Am
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
           G                             Am
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams,

[Chorus 1]
F G Am Am  (2x)
UUUUuuuuuuh

[Verse 3]
         Am               G
You may strive to be like them,
      F                        G
but seek not to make them like you.
     F                Am
For life goes, not backward
      G               Am
nor tarries with yesterday.

[Verse 4]
             Am                     G
You are the bows from which your children,
            F              G
as living arrows are sent forth,
      F                            Am
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
       G                     Am
and He bends you, with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.

[Chorus 2]
F G Am Am (2x)
UUUUuuuuuh

           F                     G               Am
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
         F                   G                              Am
as He loves the arrow that flies, He loves all that is is stable,
          F                       G               Am
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness,
                 F                    G                                    Am
for even as he loves the arrow that flies, he loves also the bow that is stable