These Precious Days

… Oh, it's a long, long while from May to December
But the days grow short when we reach September …  

--from September Song

by Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson

Some lyrics are so good that we are transformed to another time and place normally reserved

for those with a keen eye and a finely-tuned sense of hearing. They’re more than prose or poetry. They also carry the gift of     

purpose and humility. And in this age of inflation, we’re likely to walk away with a few pennies to the good.

… Oh the days dwindle down to a precious few

September, November…

Where has the time gone? We ask.

We’ve only just begun, some say.

But those of us who have tasted more of life’s good than the bad

Know we dare not bask in the glory nor the weariness of life...

We are not smarter. We’re just a little more experienced.

There is some irony in the birthday card

that proclaims: “It’s nifty to be fifty”

handed to us from someone who is 95

Don’t forget...

There are very few good days past 70.

We never know when it is over

When our allotted time stops

without our consent

When the joys shrink with our disappointments

and they intrude without knocking.

One certainty remains despite all other pleadings

and wishful thinking and such

Of this I am certain--

Before our time runs out.

May I say in all honesty that…

… these few precious days, I’ll spend with you.

These precious days, I’ll spend with you ...