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.
 

This poem was written by a  terminally ill young girl, in a New York  hospital and it was sent by a medical doctor.  It was a  request of a special girl who  had 6 months left to live, and as her dying wish, she wanted to send a letter telling everyone to live life to the fullest, since she never will. She'll never make it to prom, graduate from high school, or get married and  have a family of her own.

Dr. Dennis Shields, Professor
Department of Developmental and Molecular Biology
1300 Morris Park Avenue
Bronx , New York 10461

It's only when we truly know and understand that we have limited time on earth and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up, we will then begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it was the only one we had. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

Tim