Tuesday, April 5, 2011

We live in deeds, not years

Jim Playing in the Dog Crate as a Young Child

Five months ago today my youngest brother Jim died. I’ll never understand why he left so soon but this poem, read at his memorial service, brings some comfort, some reason, to the unexplainable. Jim loved to joke, laugh, and his eyes twinkled as he told a story or pulled a prank.

We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths;
In feelings, not in figures on a dial.
We should count time by heart-throbs. He who lives most,
feels the noblest, acts the best.
And he whose heart beats quickest lives the longest:
Lives in one hour more than in years do some.

"We Live in Deeds Not Years," Philip James Bailey (1816-1902)


Sporting Reindeer Ears at Christmas Dinner


No comments:

Post a Comment