The Creed of Old George Jones

A little of fretting, a little of getting,
   A little of slaving and saving, may be;
A little of spending, a little of lending
   And giving up living be easy and free:
But a man gathers, and all a man owns
Goes out at the finish (said old George Jones)
   Like a spark in the dark, and the sum of his trying,
   A name and a memory drifting and dying.
 
A little of blund'ring, a little of wond'ring,
   A little of scheming and dreaming when young;
A little of grieving; a little believing,
   In secret, strange things that come slow to the tongue;
For every man is a being apart,
And none may look deep in his fellow-man's heart --
   Scholars and strangers, chance met in life's college;
   But tolerance grows with the sum of our knowledge.
 
And I, who have tarried o'er long with the living,
   Have come to a creed that gives hope of content;
In getting and spending is grief; but in giving
   Is all that this riddle of life ever meant.
For life is a riddle; an, tho' I grow old,
Still fit as a fiddle, to one creed I hold:
   'Tis getting moves man while to life he is cleaving;
   But giving looms large when it comes to his leaving.
 
A little of sorrow, of plans for tomorrow,
   A little of helping the weak and the fool;
A little of laughter, and all that comes after
   Is one lesson learned in life's arduous school,
For all a man gathers, and all a man owns
   But ends in a heartache (said old George Jones),
Like a spark in the dark comes an end to his living,
And all that live after, the sum of his giving.