Success. Poem by Cecilia Parkin

'How do you measure life's success
How do you see it my friend?
The high powered job-and with it esteem,
The gloss and the glitter, the trappings well seen.
Select company to keep, the right places to meet.
Is that how you measure Success! .'

'Not so' said our Lord, 'That's not what I see
My measure's in a different way.
It's all there in the commandments I ask you to keep
As you live out your life every day.

It's in the claspof the hand from someone you've helped,
A 'Hello' from a once unfriendly face,
It's taking a road you don't want to walk-
Knowing what it will embrace.

It's the cheerful and thankful, who make light of their cares
And look out for others in need.
It.s giving your all, with no thought of reward
Through all the laughter and tears.

No public acclaim, no exhortation to fame
Is ever likely to reach your ears,
But as you lay down your head, the day's life well led,
THAT IS SUCCESS, my friend'.