Follow up on Busy Devil + email hoaxes

This morning I received an email from my class reunion coordinator. He provides a great service in keeping in touch with people so that each reunion is will be better. He often sends funny pictures, funny stories, Minnesota jokes and such. Often the best of the best in internet stuff. Anyway today he sent a beautiful poem that I thought was a great follow up on my busy devil blog. Here is the poem “Slow Dance”:

Have you ever watched kids on a merry-go-round,
or listened to rain slapping the ground?

Ever followed a butterfly’s erratic flight,
or gazed at the sun fading into the night?

You better slow down, don’t dance so fast,
time is short, the music won’t last.

Do you run through each day on the fly,
when you ask “How are you?”, do you hear the reply?

When the day is done, do you lie in your bed,
with the next hundred chores running through your head?

You better slow down, don’t dance so fast,
time is short, the music won’t last.

Ever told your child, we’ll do it tomorrow,
and in your haste, not see his sorrow?

Ever lost touch, let a friendship die,
’cause you never had time to call and say hi?

You better slow down, don’t dance so fast,
time is short, the music won’t last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere,
you miss half the fun of getting there.

When you worry and hurry through your day,
it’s like an unopened gift thrown away.

Life isn’t a race, so take it slower,
hear the music before your song is over.

Unfortunately, the beauty of the poem is somewhat diminished by the fact that the email is associated with an email hoax dating back to 1998 about a dying girls’ wishes. A quick google of SLOW DANCE POEM, confirmed it was an email hoax by several organizations. It also showed that there other people that take credit for writing this poem! All the organizations that did research the hoax accredit the beautiful poem to David L. Weatherford.

What has the world come to when people are not given proper credit for their work? Please all be cautious of potential email hoaxes and do not forward them. Sharing good information is fine but not without checking authors and copyrights. This includes pictures (editted or not), poems and most written verse. Sending and publishing copyrighted material is against the law. In this case, the author states that you can send/use the poem as long as you credit him with a link to his site and not use the works to make profit.