If you just take your average physical lifespan
And then time it three hundred and sixty-five,
30,000 days you will have on your hands, man,
So you'd better make use of 'em while alive.
And a huge part of them is your sweet adolescense,
And another big chunk is your grumpy old age,
And some more are your prime, so, I'd say that, in essense,
It is just like a book that you read page-by-page.
Or it's more like a set of encyclopedias
That's about a good 30 volumes long.
So, while long it may be , I would honestly pity you
If you spent them on things that may prove to be wrong.
If you spend 30, 000 days chasing pleasures,
Making money and buying all manners of stuff,
You'll enjoy them and still have a lot left for leisure,
But somehow you'll feel that it isn't enough.
If you then try to deepen the levels of gladness
By indulging in other, forbidden delights,
This lifestyle may simply result in your madness
Which this modus vivendi so often invites.
You may try to devote all these days to pursuing
Knowledge, travel or love or some bookish ideal,
But as long as the search is self-serving, you're doing
Nothing that in the end will be worth a great deal.
Why not spend all these days in creating some value,
That exceeds flimsy things that most people pursue,
And begin to peruse what for those around you
Your compassion, devotion and action can do?
If Humanity's welfare you start to consider
More important than your petty worries and hopes,
You will then be perceived as a caring leader
Who with all kinds of problems successfully copes.
You will gain greater strength and can feel satisfaction
Greater than all the highs of your selfish pursuits.
As you care for others with comradely action,
Folks around will snap you respectful salutes.
30,000 days we all have on this planet.
Let's devote them to something worthwhile, I say.
Our names may not get to be chiseled in granite,
But to others, they will righteous meaning convey.
So, wherever you go and whatever your dealings,
Try and make other people your basal concern,
At the end of your life, wondrous joy you'll be feeling,
While the rest for the past will continue to yearn.
