How You Spend Your "Dash" - pipTalk Forums

How to Join	Member's Area	Private Library	Search	Sanctuary		Login
Main Forums	Discussion	Tech Talk	Mature Content	Archives	A home without a wall, Our haven without ends, A circle we all call Our Family of Friends!

Open Poetry #1

How You Spend Your "Dash"

Christopher

Moderator

Member Rara Avis

since 1999-08-02

Posts 8296
Purgatorial Incarceration

0 posted 1999-08-12 04:13 PM

This is a poem that was e-mailed to me some time ago. I don't know who wrote it, though I wish I did, but it's very eloquent. (Poet deVine's "The Search For Happiness" reminded me of it!)

How You Spend Your "Dash"

I read of a man who stood to speak
At the funeral of a friend.
He referred to the dates on her tombstone
From the beginning ... to the end.

He noted that first came her date of birth
And spoke the following date with tears,
But he said what mattered most of all
Was the dash between those years.
(1900-1970)

For that dash represents all the time
That she spent alive on earth....
And now only those who loved her
Know what that little line is worth.

For it matters not, how much we own;
The cars...the house...the cash.
What matters is how we live and love
And how we spend our dash.

So think about this long and hard...
Are there things you'd like to change?
For you never know how much time is left.
That can still be rearranged.

If we could just slow down enough
To consider what's true and real,
And always try to understand
The way other people feel.

And be less quick to anger,
And show appreciation more
And love the people in our lives
Like we've never loved before.

If we treat each other with respect,
And more often wear a smile...
Remembering that this special dash
Might only last a little while.

So, when your eulogy's being read
With your life's action's to rehash...
Would you be proud of the things they say
About how you spent your dash?

Spend it well.

------------------
Where did I go wrong, I never needed this before,
I need a woman, to help me feel.
-Live-

Sunshine

Administrator

Member Empyrean

since 1999-06-25

Posts 63354
Listening to every heart

1 posted 1999-08-12 04:15 PM

Excellent. Keep posting, my friend.

------------------
Sunshine
Words will always express our feelings true. ~~~ KRJ
Look, then, into thine heart, and write ~~~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

	⇧ top of page ⇧
All times are ET (US). All dates are in Year-Month-Day format.