Leave Something Behind

Everyone must leave something behind when he dies,

my grandfather said. A child or a book

or a painting or a house or a wall built or a pair

of shoes made. Or a garden planted. Something

your hand touched some way so your soul has

somewhere to go when you die, and when

people look at that tree or that flower you

planted, you're there. It doesn't matter what

you do, he said, so long as you change

something from the way it was before you

touched it into something that's like you after

you take your hand away.

-~Ray Bradbury~