What does it matter?
What does all this matter? —
You work, you strive, you love, you talk, you write –
For what? For who? Who’ll remember?
Who really cares?
You raise your kids with every ounce of energy you have,
They grow up and reject your values,
And you.
You enthusiasms fade into obscurity,
And your causes crumble to dust.
You wake in the empty night,
Feeling as though one foot
Is already in your forgotten grave.
When I say “you”, I mean “I” —
I am just another irrelevance:
A lump of ugly clay
In a world of beautiful imagery,
Already forgotten.
Soon to be no more
Than a name on a page
I heard you die twice, once when they bury you in the grave
And the second time is the last time that somebody mentions your name
So when I leave here on this earth, did I take more than I gave?
Did I look out for the people or did I do it all for fame?
Hum bug! You, and many others too, help keep the flame of human hope and creativity alive thus going on as long as that shall live.
Ecclesiastes
Exactly
🙂