"Legacy in the Wake"

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The world, passing me by,

watching its motion while I try

making sense of the remnants that I leave…

of the life I lived, but still I can’t believe.

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In my wake, are traces of my years,

some are marked by laughter, some by tears…

and in that wake my spirit feels the weight

of what I offered, early and late.

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Angst fills the space where purpose used to stand,

as I question all, that I built by hand…

was it worth the toil, the sweat, the endless fight…

or just a shadow fading in the light?

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Impending doom whispers in the nigh-time hours,

asking what remains of all your powers?

My legacy… if such a term I dare employ…

feels weighted down, with both burden and joy.

Just what’s mine to give to my family and kin,

the parts of me that I wore so thin?

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Was it love, or stories, or lessons learned too late,

or all the steady work that shaped my fate?

Ambitious and young, brightness filled my gaze,

but over time revealed a humbler, honest phase.

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So here I stand, reflecting without boast,

and wonder if simple love… is what mattered most.

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-Peter