OUR children are our monuments, <br />The little ones we leave behind, <br />If they are good and brave and kind, <br />And labor here with true intents, <br />Our lives and work perpetuate <br />Far more than marble tablets great. <br /> <br />Far rather would I pass away <br />And leave a sturdy son of mine, <br />Whom I had taught to love the fine, <br />The just and honest; in his day <br />To serve the world with courage bold, <br />Than have my life on granite told. <br /> <br />I'd rather feel when death is near <br />That in my children I shall live; <br />No monument of stone would give <br />Me greater glory, year by year, <br />Than sons and daughters treading on <br />In truth and honor when I'm gone. <br /> <br />Who leaves a sturdy son on earth, <br />A noble daughter, sweet and pure, <br />Has monuments that long endure. <br />He needs no shaft to prove his worth; <br />The luster of his children's deeds <br />Are all the monuments he needs.<br /><br />Edgar Albert Guest<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/living-monuments/
