What I Have Done

Up and away

like the dew of the morn­ing

Soaring from earth to its home in the sun

So let me steal away

gent­ly and lov­ing­ly

Only re­mem­bered by what I have done.

My name and place

and my grave

all for­got­ten

My time’s brief race well and pa­tient­ly run;

So let me pass away

peace­ful­ly

si­lent­ly

Only re­mem­bered by what I have done.

Gladly away from this toil would I hast­en

Up to the crown that for me has been won;

Unsung on earth in re­wards or in prais­es

Only re­mem­bered by what I have done.

Up and away like the od­ors of sun­set

Sweetening the twi­light as dark­ness comes on

So be my life

some­thing felt but not no­ticed

Only re­mem­bered by what I have done.

Yes

like the frag­rance that wan­ders in fresh­ness

Blossoms it came from all closed up and gone

So would I be to this world’s wea­ry dwell­ers

Only re­mem­bered by what I have done.

Need there be praise of the love-writ­ten re­cord?

Name and an epi­taph grav­en on stone?

Things I have lived for

let them be my sto­ry

I but re­mem­bered by what I have done.

I need no shrine

if I have been bear­ing

As sum­mer

au­tumn

move si­lent­ly on

The bloom

the fruit and the seed of their sea­son;

I’ll be re­mem­bered by what I have done.

No cause need fail

if an­oth­er suc­ceed me

Reaping the fields which in spring I have sown;

Plower and sow­er not missed by the reap­er

Only re­mem­bered by what I have done.

No

not my­self

but the truth I have spok­en

No

not my­self

but the seed I have sown

Pass down the ag­es

my name all for­got­ten

Only the truth

and the things I have done.

As was my liv­ing

so be my dy­ing;

So let my name lie

unblazoned

un­known;

Unpraised

un­missed

I shall still be re­mem­bered

For God re­cords all the things I have done.