“Are there things you need to amend?”

The Dash

I saw a man who stood to speak
At the funeral of a friend
He referred to the dates on her tombstone
To the beginning and the end
He said first came the date of her birth
And spoke of the following date with tears
And said what matters most of all
Was the Dash between those years
For that Dash represents all the time
She spent alive on earth
Now only Allah, the Creator
Knows what that Dash is worth
For it matters not, how much we own
The cars, the house, the cash
What matters is how we live our lives
And how we spend our Dash
So think about this long and hard
Are there things you need to amend?
You never know how much time is left
Your Dash may be nearing its end
If we could just slow down enough
To consider what’s true and real
And always try to understand
The way other people feel
And be less quick to anger
And show appreciation more
And love the people in our lives
Like we’ve never loved before
If we treat each other with respect
And more often show a smile
Remembering that this special Dash
May only last a while
So when your Record is clearly shown
With your life to rehash
Would you be proud of the things it says
About how you spent your Dash?

-Anonymous