A Shelf Against Forgetting

I build not monuments of stone
But folders with tags and dated
Line by line is a life distilled
From thoughts once isolated
Each page a quiet declaration
That I was here
That I thought hard
That I tried
Not for fame nor fleeting likes
But to leave a lamp behind
For the boy I was
The nephew who asks
Or a stranger with kindred mind
This archive breathes without applause
It does not age
It does not need
It waits in still perpetuity
So nothing I cared for goes unseen
— 08/05/25

Commentary: “A Shelf Against Forgetting” is how I feel about my archive. As I move towards my retirement, I am starting to ramp up my archival work as well – that is part of my legacy that I will leave behind.