On the train from Boston I sat across an elderly man.
We chatted idly for a while and he asked me where I'd land.
I told him not till Beverly, 3hrs a day was my fate
He said that this was nothing compared to what he considered late.
He asked me what I did - how I earned my pay
I told him about ImpulseSave and my duties day to day
I told him what we're trying to do and all about our blog,
The he asked me if I'd to share with you this his epilogue.
He had white hair and wrinkled skin that looked of paper maché.
He wore a kaki trench coat, a blue suit; strips of lightish grey
I think his hair was blonde before - the white had a slight yellow tinge
and his blue eyes looked so folded as he opened his mouth to begin:
Do not worry about money - put it in its rightful place.
Do not long for wealth - I spent my life running that race
Tell them not to covet or be swayed by greed
because it is a weed that always spreads its seed
Assure them the at their lowest someone else is suffering too -
and tell them when they're at their hight - fallen kings are nothing new.
Tell them when their heart is tempted to give into despair -
that's when they'll realize there's more than money to bear.
Remind them of the precious things like time that cannot be
collected, traded bartered for or pursued on the winds of the sea.
No, time is what matters most, when from birth it just grows scarce
and don't you think that I'm just an old man who with time is growing scared.
He was pointing at me as though father time himself
was lamenting the great ticking clock that is not swayed by wealth.
He rose adjusted his coat and grabbed his briefcase with one arm,
He turned to me in parting and said with shocking warmth
I worked my hands to bone to get my name up on a wall
a building that I know in time will crumble down and fall.
Tell your friends who do not know me that I wish they did -
you cannot imagine the pain of a life too shortly lived.
So if my words take root - even in a corner of your heart
realize that a right perspective is only just the start.
I know there is money to win and profit to be gained
and I understand the desire to fill your silo full of grain.
But in order to be master instead of the slave
understand that money means nothing to a man who is looking at his grave."
"Swaaaampscott!" yelled the conductor braking my childlike trance -
and I watched him exit pondering this meeting of happenstance.
