Slow Dance

Have you ever watched kids
On a merry-go-round?

Or listened to the rain
Slapping on the ground?

Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?

You better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

Do you run through each day
On the fly?

When you ask How are you?
Do you hear the reply?

When the day is done
Do you lie in your bed
With the next hundred chores
Running through your head?

You'd better slow down
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

Ever told your child,
We'll do it tomorrow?
And in your haste,
Not see his sorrow?

Ever lost touch,
Let a good friendship die
Cause you never had time
To call and say, "hi"

You'd better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere
you miss half the fun of getting there
When you worry and hurry through
your day,

It is like an unopened gift......

Thrown away.

Life is not a race.
Do take it slower
Hear the music
Before the song is over.

* * *
I received this in an email (dated Oct 2004) from a good friend, and it touched my heart. It said in the email that this poem was written by a terminally ill young girl in a New York Hospital stricken with cancer. I've learned to appreciate her words.