Page 31 - Wealden Celebrant Poetry Collection By Michael Gosden Feb 22

What will matter is not your competence - but your integrity and
character.
What will matter is not how many people you have known, rich or
poor - but how many will miss you when you are gone.

What will matter are not your faded memories - but the memories
of those who know and love you.

What will matter is how long you will be remembered, by whom,
and for what reasons.

Living a life that matters doesn't happen by accident, it's not a
matter of circumstance - It is one made of choice; one of your own
choosing.

And in so doing, you dance and write your name with destiny - you
chose to live a life that matters.
Adapted from original work by Donna Maris

Not, how did he die, but how did he live?
Not, how did he die, but how did he live?
Not, what did he gain, but what did he give?

These are the units to measure the worth
Of a man as a man, regardless of his birth.

Nor what was his church, nor what was his creed?
But had he befriended those really in need?

Was he ever ready, with words of good cheer,
To bring back a smile, to banish a tear?

Not what did the sketch in the newspaper say,
But how many were sorry when he passed away?
Anon