Poetry Day: If This Was My Last Day

(Guess I had a lot of downers in ‘I’ section. Then again, is anyone surprised that I wonder about my own legacy? I write stories with destined heroes and question if free will is stronger or weaker than destiny. I have my heroes hope to create a legacy even if they die because they want to leave the world a better place. So, I always wonder if there will be anything left a hundred years after I’m dead to tell people that I was here. Not just that I lived, but that I did something. I also wrote this when my son was really young, so the idea that I could die and he wouldn’t remember me was scary.)

If this day
Was my last day
What scar would I leave
Upon the world
Or would I fade
Into a set of photos
Collecting dust
In tear stained albums
Packed into a box

Would my stories live
Beyond my notes
Finding life
When I am gone
Or would they remain
Trapped
Within their tombs
Of lined paper and cheap binding
Crumbling on a shelf

Would my collections
Of blade and book
Become heirlooms
Passed to generations
With stories told
Or would they depart
Sold or donated
To make some space
For newer toys

Would the key to legacy
Be the son
Carrier of the bloodline
Living proof
That I was here
Or is he too young
To remember his old man
A memory not yet forged
Fading before I cool

About Charles Yallowitz

Charles E. Yallowitz was born, raised, and educated in New York. Then he spent a few years in Florida, realized his fear of alligators, and moved back to the Empire State. When he isn't working hard on his epic fantasy stories, Charles can be found cooking or going on whatever adventure his son has planned for the day. 'Legends of Windemere' is his first series, but it certainly won't be his last.

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