What can we offer to those who come after?

Stories of battle and victory?

Triumphant shouts and accolades?

Treasures retrieved and dragons destroyed?

Sometimes, it seems that the song that I sing

Is more of a dirge than a dance.

The smallest of joys seems forged from great pain

And defeat seems a constant refrain.

The lessons seem to say that happiness is snatched

From the teeth of a merciless beast:

To take for the moment the juice that is there

Lest someone else take it away.

But if I change the view from my analytical chair

To a wider and longer perspective,

I see I have a bigger part

Than the walk-on role in this play.

And little decisions and actions I take

Have an influence on time’s river course

And thought that I use to contain or express

Is noticed, is rewarded, is blessed.

And the child that I teach or the friend I encourage

Can multiply the fruit of my work

If I just keep planting and trusting the One 

Who will gather all things in His time.

Jane 9/2010