Charles James Rideout

I’d like the memory of me

to be a happy one,

I’d like to leave an afterglow

of smiles when life is done.

I’d like to leave an echo

whispering softly down the ways,

of happy times and laughing

times and bright and sunny days.

I’d like the tears of those

who grieve, to dry before the sun.

Of happy memories that I leave

when life is done.