A little more tired at the close of the day,

A little more anxious to have our way,

A little less ready to scold and blame,

A little more care for a brother's name;

And so we are nearing the journey's end,

Where time and eternity meet and blend.

A little less care for bonds or gold,

A little more zeal for the days of old;

A broader view and a saner mind,

And a little more love for all mankind;

And so we are faring down the way

That leads to the gates of a better day.

A little more love for the friends of youth,

A little more zeal for established truth,

A little more charity for our views,

A little less thirst for the daily news;

And so we are folding our tents away

And passing in silence at close of day.

A little more leisure to sit and dream,

A little more real the things unseen,

A little nearer to those ahead,

With visions of those long loved and dead;

And so we are going where all must go-

To the place the living may never know.

A little more laughter, a few more tears,

And we shall have told our increasing years.

The book is closed and the prayers are said,

And we are part of the countless dead;

Thrice happy, then, if some soul can say,

"I live because of their help on the way."

Growing Older by R.G. Wells