THE GIFT
He tried to choose his gifts carefully.
He went to all the right stores.
He saved up his money.
He travelled in person
to expensive retailers
and spent time in meaningless conversation
with counter people
who would rather be somewhere else.
He read the fashion magazines
and scoured the Internet
with a business style focus
and spent more money than he should
trying to impress her.
When the day came
and he presented his gift to her
he was happily pleased
that she was pleased.
He felt the satisfaction
of the giver
and the joy in her happiness
belied the empty feeling in his soul.
As he grew older
he realized that the greatest gift of all
required no effort
and no money
and no skill.
He would give her the gift of his time
and that much limited resource
would be the best gift of all.
Time flashes by in an instant.
He would try to give it away before it was gone.