Before I give myself to Mother Earth <br />To cycle back to dust from whence I came, <br />I want to say a word about my birth, <br />Before the world forgets my humble name. <br /> <br />Suppose I'd never lived, had not been born, <br />Had never drawn that first, most fateful breath, <br />Nor waked to greet each day, morn after morn, <br />Had not remained, defying early death. <br /> <br />I wonder if it would have made a dent. <br />Would someone else be standing in my place? <br />Or would someone have struggled to invent <br />A clever way to fill the empty space? <br /> <br />Who would have struck the bells that I have rung? <br />Would some have cried because my laughter lay <br />Unlaughed and all my songs remained unsung? <br />Would silence hover where I am today? <br /> <br />Would piles of virgin paper vainly wait <br />For lines of mine that would have passed, unwrit? <br />Would someone find a way to compensate <br />For darkened lanterns that I would have lit? <br /> <br />Crouched in a dismal doorway, would there be <br />A lost, bedraggled soul I'd have made warm? <br />Would someone welcome the poor refugee <br />I would have rescued from the drenching storm? <br /> <br />What would this spinning, crazy world have done? <br />Would anyone have shed a lonely tear <br />Because I was not there to start some fun? <br />What would you all have done if I weren't here? <br /> <br />Don't send me flowers when I'm covered up <br />Or mourn my passing from this twirling ball. <br />Instead, raise to your lips a joyful cup <br />And toast the fact that I was born at all! <br /> <br />(c.1988)<br /><br />Yen Cress<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/to-my-survivors/
