Legacy Poem by Michael Eziudo

I got here
Here where I once lived
And yesterday is not here
It went
And now carried along the memory that should be
For nothing is left for a mark

I didn't see me
Didn't see the footmarks I left on yesterday's sand of time
Didn't see the family I was with
For everything that should show we existed here went with yesterday
Not the trees that I once tended
Not the pillars of the house
Nothing of the nativity

The soil of time had overtaken the footprints I left on the sand
And the rains too had washed away my fingerprints on the wall, no, there is not the wall too
What did I do
Where was my wisdom

I was wise yesterday
But the passersby that knew me now shake their heads
Where now is that work of the wise
What happened to me

Was my wealth not genuine
Were my ways unpleasant
Had I not been helper of men
Where did I go wrong
That my yesterday leaves me now with nothing to be remembered with
No proof of my name, my ego

My wisdom could have been wisdom
But it was not mixed with foresight
My godliness could have been godliness
But I had not listened
I had thought those who told me the truth were small
I had thought they wanted to reap where they hadn't sowed

My wisdom met with desperation
And drive for instant profit blinded me
Today I am nowhere
Not even my sons can point to it

I have learnt in my regret
That when I leave a place
The place shouldn't leave along with me
I should put a mark
That my heart doesn't bleed later as it bleeds now
Footprints in the sand of time has no root
Structures on the land of history
And investment on the life of any one child the least
Will outlive me
I shall not sell no matter the prize
When tomorrow comes yesterday will still be here