A poem by a young cancer patient. A good reminder

Not sure where I got this (may have been on here), but it is a reminder to all.

Slow Dance

This poem was written by a terminally ill young girl in a New York Hospital.

It was sent by a medical doctor -

SLOW DANCE

Have you ever watched kids
On a merry-go-round?

Or listened to the rain
Slapping on the ground?

Ever followed a
butterfly's erratic flight?

Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?

You better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.

Time is short.
The music won't last

Do you run through each day
On the fly?

When you ask How are you?
Do you hear the reply?

When the day is done
Do you lie in your bed

With the next hundred chores
Running through your head?

You'd better slow down
Don't dance so fast

Time is short
The music won't last.

Ever told your child,
We'll do it tomorrow.

And in your haste,
Not see his sorrow?

Ever lost touch,
Let a good friendship die

Cause you never had time
To call and say,'Hi'

You'd better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.

Time is short.
The music won't last..

When you run so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there.

When you worry
and hurry through your day,

It is like an unopened gift....
Thrown away.

Life is not a race.
Do take it slower

Hear the music
Before the song is over.

Love it, thanks for sharing.

Beautiful and moving, whoever wrote it. Most reading this forum can likely relate to this quite personally.

Strangely, my monitor got rather blurry while I was reading it....

Edit: I'm a sucker for stories like this, even if possibly fictitious. The sentiment is still special. (Does anyone remember Larain Newman's "child psychologist sketch on Saturday Night Live back in the 70s?)

Post Edited (Redwing57) : 8/15/2013 10:24:46 AM (GMT-6)

As they say, "from the mouths of babes." Very beautiful.

It's a nice poem. But it wasn't written by an 11yo girl. I saw this a few years ago and suspected something wrong.

www.snopes.com/inboxer/medical/slowdance.asp

It was written by Dale Weatherford ~ a child physiologist. This poem went viral when someone tagged it to a fictitious terminal little girl.

Sorry for the rain on this...

Tony

Agreed. Nice write indeed...

Tony

Actually Tony, you jiggled a memory and I believe when I saw this I found that out, but loved the wording and sentiment so kept. I am surprised I didn't make a note - still like the sentiment.