I think it is a fair interpretation of your words to say...
if I can inspire reason, or hope, or justice, or love that is enough of a remembrance for me. Don't build a monument to me or to my words. Build something from the good that we can do. That is the message that I take from all that you write.

Great advice in a poem. I recall reading an account of a previously unknown ancestor written about 1890 about their life on the farm. It was wonderful. My mother has recently written her story about growing up. And, since my father went through cars like a used car salesman, she has written the history of all the cars that my father bought… Interesting reading.

I don't agree with, "… Don't give away will you are." You will notice that writers like you have described in the poem have had every element of their life exposed. When others write your story, the errors creep in. I found that true of my friend, Herb Morrison, witness to the Hindenburg fire. That's why I wrote my autobiography. It will make it difficult for people to make up things about me (like when I got in a wheelchair) because it is clearly written down and published.

Ron

Well said.

Michael D.

They say "say it without saying it." They say "show us" and you have. To take us to faraway places, or places near and dear, for a moment forgetting the pain and remembering why we are here in the first place, writing just enough to make them want to read more. thank you for that.

I hear you, Kathy, I've been writing it down for a while now.