Memento

What will remain, when you cease to be

will be a stain in the earth no man can see.

All that love and all that fear

in an instant, shall just disappear

and your legacy, your carefully curated presence

will, in one or two generations

lose its shape, have no essence.

If you believe in something hereafter

beyond all of these tears and laughter

perhaps an echo or a vague rattling

will emerge, either silent or prattling

in an effort to avoid that loathsome lyre

or that most unwelcome lake of fire.