You'll Die Twice - Poem

They say that each person, and non-person, has two deaths in their lives.

The first will be the day your physical body dies and your heart stops beating.

People will mourn, you will be missed as your piece of others lives is plucked from the puzzle.

But the second death, this is the one that matters most.

Because people will cry, they will put flowers at your grave or send cards to your family.

But you aren't really gone just yet.

The second death, this is the day you pass onto something outside of history.

What happens is as follows but doesn't stick to a set pattern.

Someone will be the last person to leave flowers at your headstone, they won't be there to mow the grass that takes over.

You might have some business that carries your name on into legend, but that will someday close or be absorbed, thus your name will make way for others.

Loved ones will pass away or lose memory and forget your ways.

People will tell stories of you but they might misremember details about your life.

Others will further dilute your passions and mistake strangers stories for your own.

Then one day, you've been replaced in myth and gossip by another creation made of false memory.

The day you stop having your true story told, that's the day you'll die for the second time.