A Polite Refusal to be Forgotten

I don't want to be forgotten
I don't want to be someone that the future doesn't know was here 
I don't want to be someone normal
I don't want my name to be on a gravestone covered with moss that tourists pass by on their way to someone else's tomb
I don't want to be an anyone

I want my words to flow through years 
Like brooks
I want them to inspire again and again
I want the stories I write to be loved
Worn
Nibbled on by literature-inclined mice 
Read again and again by people with soft hands
Wrinkled hands
Small hands
Scarred hands

I want to be great
I don't want to be a memory in someone else's mind
I want to be someone who changed people's hearts
I want to love
Be loved

I want to write
And draw
And sing
And dance
And read
And change
And change
And change

I want to be a candle that never goes out
I want to live forever in people's hearts 
And in their books
And on their shelves
In their shadows
Behind their doors
Jumping out and reminding them that 
I was here
I was great

Billions of people have passed through here
In a sea of human bodies, most will be forgotten
I must politely refuse to be one of them

I want to exceed the standard
Go above and beyond
Work hard, be remembered

But sometimes I don't know which direction I want to go