Golden Years

If tomorrow comes without me,
do not grieve about what could have been.

If you feel that business has been left unfinished,
take it up with the tax man.

If you love plants, visit my porch and take some aloe,
dig up the lavender, rosemary, and thyme.

If you save them, you may think of me when you snip a sprig for tea.

If not, no worries because I have lived, and no perennial memorial is required.

Tomorrow, if I am forgotten, know that today, I am a man.
I have been the student and
I have been the teacher and the sage and the fool.
I have done a hard day's work and
I have found pleasure and
I have found grace and
I have known redemption through toil and
I have been given gifts I never deserved and
I have seen treasures that
I have possessed, briefly, but that is enough, for true wealth will never abide in a       
     vault and
I have been loved and I have loved.

If tomorrow comes without me,
Don't let me hear you say life's taken me nowhere...