RECKONING

     Were it pronounced I was about to die,
     As someday certainly will be the case
     (And sooner seems more sure than by and by),
     I would not wish to go and leave no trace.
    
     To leave instead the highest and the best
     Of all it is that I still have to give—
     My whole potentiality expressed—
     Is how I ardently intend to live.
    
     But since it may be that this very day
     Is destined for my last, then I must make
     The best of all I do, which is to say
     This sonnet’s written for the future’s sake
       
          Enunciating you as well as I
          Both aim to be immortal though we die.

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