The Dash

Yesterday I attended  a Coaches Clinic, where One of the Coaches read the poem below during his speech ...after talking about his brother who battled and died of cancer...

I wanted to share it with you all, thought you would all like to read I thought it is very powerful and inspiring.....

The Dash

I've seen death stare me in my own eyes
The way many of you cannot know,
I've seen death take others
But still left me here below.

I've heard many screams and many cried
But death refused to hear.
And in my life I've seen faces
filled with many many tear.

After death has come and gone
the tombstone still left for many to see.
It's no more than a symbol of a persons memory.

I've seen my share of tombstones
But never took the time to truly read.
The meaning what's behind there for all the others to see.

Under the person's name
it read the date of birth - dash and the date the person passed.
The more I think about the tombstone
the only important thing is the dash.

Yes, I see the name of the person
but that I might forget
And I also read the date of birth and death
But even that might not stick.

But thinking about the individual
In fact, I can't help it but to remember the dash.
Because it represents a person's life
and that will always last.

So when you begin to chart your life
Make sure you're on a positive path.
Because people may forget your birth and death
but will never forget your dash.

-Alton Mayden
Univ. of Notre Dame Football 1989