Epitaph

After I am gone
How will I be remembered?
What among the many things
That I have done
Will really count?
What will my children,
And their children,
And sons and daughters
After that recall?
Will they know
Who I was?
Will they know
I was alive?
Will they know
What I thought?
What idiosyncrasies
Will I pass on
Unknowingly traveling
From generation
To generation?
What words
Will they carve
Upon my tombstone?
I would hope
They would say
“Here lies
Charlie McCormick
Who dared to live
A life he loved
And loved
The life he lived,
Who capture
The essence of life
As he saw it
In the words
Of his narratives.”