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