SONNET XXXVIII - THE MESSAGE

When I am dead and everyone I know
has followed on with me into the Night,
when time and history have laid us low
and all the world we know has gone from sight,
when all our happy days have given way
and stories we once shared are told no more,
when all our descendants have left to say
is that the world was different before,
then let somebody open this and see
that I was once alive but always knew
I grasped in vain for immortality
unless mere words can share my soul with you.
   I'll die someday and it will be a shame
   if you've read this and only know my name