Denominative Devices
You cannot live forever, no matter how you scheme;
The whole of your endeavour fades like a labile dream.
But habits of your living
Etch images in time,
With history’s page receiving
Each graven paradigm.
What you create must sign you – each thing you make or do –
With memories to define you for those who never knew
The pattern of your nature,
The tenor of your heart,
Or that unique self-signature
Which marked your life apart.
Unless you leave some signs to shew you merit your recall,
So far as future minds will know, you had not lived at all.
