CHEAP AT ANY PRICE

When we get to Heaven, we'll have been thru it all:
Love and hatred, gain and loss, learned how to run and to fall.

Realize that it wouldn't be possible to appreciate such bliss
Had we never known the sorrow of a cruel world like this.

Each shall likely lose his parents, many a lover, some a child --
Earthly treasures, transitory, passion subtle or emotion wild.

Be thankful for each petal of blessing that fate down your pathway strews.
Appreciate good will and accept incidental bad news.

It all counts as experience, good and bad, don't cease to learn.
Drain your cup of fortune's favor -- exit with dignity comes your turn.

                                                           by D. Edgar Murray