Count your garden by the flowers,
never by the leaves that fall;
Count your days by golden hours
don’t remember clouds at all!
Count the night by stars, not shadows
Count your life with smiles – not tears
And on every birthday morning,
count your age by friends – not years.
birthday poem, given to a lady”s 90th birthday in Richfield Springs, New York, published in “Ninetieth Birthday Celebrated at Monticello” (Richfield Mercury, 27.1.1927)