The Measure of a Man
How shall we weigh the worth of one,
Who toils beneath the rising sun?
By coin and ledger, grain and steel,
By what he makes, by what we feel?
Is he the sum of hands that build,
Of strength that bends, of fields he tilled?
Is he the voice that shapes the air,
The mind that dreams, the heart that cares?
Or does his worth surpass all scale,
A flame that flickers, frail yet hale?
A breath, a pulse, a fleeting grace,
A soul that time cannot erase.
No wage can bind, no weight define,
The gift of life, the spark divine.
For every heartbeat, every sigh,
Is worth the stars that light the sky.