This is the oft-quoted work of Kahlil Gibran. It seems to have some sections in prose and others in poetry. this is the source of the poem that compares parents and children to bows and arrows. The book itself is paperback and in good condition. Excerpts:

"And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, Speak to us of Children.
And he said:
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 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 the bow that is stable."