Greater Than Gold
My little girl saw a homeless man
Said, “Daddy he looks hungry and thin
May I use my allowance
To buy a meal for him?”
He was surprised when she reached out
With a big burger and some fries
He smiled as he took her gift
With grateful tears in his eyes
Chorus
They say kindness is love in action
And love is greater than gold
I’ll never forget her compassion
Or the love my little girl showed
(Verse 2)
Years later I was late for lunch
As I headed toward a restaurant door
Ran right past an old woman
Who looked half-starved and poor
But when my thoughts flashed back
To what my daughter had done
And the look on that hungry face
I bought two meals not one
Chorus
They say kindness is love in action
And love is greater than gold
I’ll never forget her compassion
And the love my little girl showed
(Possible Bridge)
My little girl’s all grown up
With children of her own
I see so much of their mom in them
From the kindness they have shown
–Russ Towne
My poem below was the genesis for the lyric above.
Greater Than Gold
As I sat eating my meal
Alone in my thoughts and cares
I noticed a little girl
Turn her head and briefly stare
She saw a homeless man with a hopeless look
Who’d been hungry for far too long
Her eyes grew sad from what she saw
Then she whispered to her mom
I don’t know what she said
As she pointed to him
But when her mom smiled
There was joy in her eyes again
The girl’s hands held coins
She’d counted every penny
It was her allowance
And she didn’t drop any
She placed her savings on the counter
Ordered a meal for a man in need
Fidgeted a bit as she waited for it
So anxious to do the kind deed
He looked up in surprise
And when he saw what she held
His eyes moistened a bit
And his heart seemed to melt
He took her gift and gave his thanks
They smiled then she walked away
It’s a good bet I’ll never forget
The way I felt that day
My heart grew lighter
For inside I knew
That his spark of life and spirit
Had grown a bit brighter too
I learned a lot from that little girl
Who was less than nine years old
How a simple act of kindness
Can be a gift that is greater than gold.
–Russ Towne
Russ Towne's A Grateful Man 
Beautiful, Russ!
Thank you, Cathy. Considering the great beauty of your posts, I consider that high praise indeed.
Russ
It’s looking good Russ! I’m excited about this one for obvious reasons!
Diana
Thank you, Diana. Me too, and for some of the same reasons.
Russ
I will make sure to check in on your progress. I also sent the post to my daughter!
My co-writer and I worked on the song today. I changed a few lines, and there are 4 lines that I’ll probably replace completely, but it may only be a day or two from now when I send the near-final lyric to him for composing the music. I say near-final because we often need to make minor tweaks to the lyric and music so they work better together. (I’ll probably post my revisions of the lyric on my blog at about that time.) Then he’ll put the two together and sing it to me. We’ll make final tweaks and then it will be ready to share. So, hopefully within the next 5-10 days you’ll be able to hear it. This project is moving faster than the other song on which we’re working, because the final lyric appears closer to completion. By the way, judging by the “Like” counts of both songs, “Greater Than Gold” appears more popular than the other song by almost 2-to-1 as of the last time I checked. Oh, one other thing, the title may change. We like “Greater Than Gold” but depending on what I replace 4 of the chorus lines with, we may decide that another title or hook would fit the song better. These things tend to take on a life of their own. Who knows, maybe by the time the song is done it will have morphed into a song about a green Giraffe named Clyde who likes to eat bananas while standing on his head in the rain…
Russ
LOL all the best to you and Clyde!
LOL! Thank you, Diana. We may need all the help we can get.
Russ
LOVE THIS! Great work!
Thank you for your enthusiastic comment, Michaela. Such support helps to keep my creative fire burning.
Russ
Beautiful Russ
Thank you, David. I’m glad it resonated for you.
Russ
Marvelous sentiment. Gorgeous poetry. A heart as big as gold – that’s yours, Russ. No wonder your little girl learned such compassion. It was destined! And now, just keep on passin’ it on! God bless you 🙂
Thank you, Jan. The poem which became the lyric draft which is getting close to becoming a song actually began as a tribute to fellow blogger Diana and her daughter. Diana related a story a time when her daughter was little she used her allowance money to by a meal for a homeless man. I was so impressed by her generosity that I wrote the poem as a tribute to both of them. For a variety of reasons–not the least of which is that it will be sung by a male vocalist–the “parent” in the song is a man and singing about “his” daughter. But Diana, her daughter, and I will always know that the poem is about the two of them, as is the spirit of the song if not the specifics.
Russ
Beautiful my friend I do like the way you write…………………
Thank you for your kind comment, my friend.
Russ