I wonder if one day
I don’t laugh
Will the world stop for me?

I wonder if one day
I don’t smile
Will the world forget me?

I wonder if one day
I don’t talk
Will the world miss me?

I wonder if one day
I don’t linger
Will the world remember me?

It won’t.

But I don’t laugh, smile or talk
to be heard, seen or remembered
I laugh because I like how it sounds
I smile because I like what I see
I talk because I have something to say
Regardless of whether anyone
hears, sees or remembers
I will laugh, smile and talk
not for anyone else, but for myself
And I will linger as long as I please
not because the world must remember me
but because the world is mine to see
and no one can stop me.

~ r.a.w