I don't wish you all sorts of gifts.
I just wish you, what most people don't have:
I wish you the time to be happy and to laugh
and if you use it, you can make something out of it.
I wish you the time for your doings and thinking,
not only for yourself, but also to give away.
I wish you the time - not to hastle and run,
but the time to know how to be contented.
I wish you the time - not to pass just like that.
I wish that some of it may be left for you
as a time to marvel and (as a time) to trust,
instead of just looking at the time on your watch.
I wish you the time to reach for the stars,
and the time to grow, that means to mature.
I wish you the time to hope anew and to love.
There is no sense in putting this time off.
I wish you the time to find yourself,
to see the happiness in each day and each hour.
I wish you the time also to forgive.
I wish you: the time to live.
(Translation)
Original by Elli Michler in "Dir zugedacht", Don Bosco Verlag, München
