A pile of good and bad things

That's what life really is

And the history of ancient kings

Is forgotten after the quiz.

So why should I be the one remembered?

The one you don't forget.

My life is but a single ember,

So please don't get me wet.

I've never led a revolution.

I've never saved a life.

I've never found a great solution

To rid the world of strife.

There are books of actual heroes

There will be no books of me.

When my words are not but echoes

Crashing like waves upon the sea.

United by our fleeting trek

Across a length in time

This is what I must accept

While it is still sublime.

Some are made to be forgotten

And I am one of them.

But before I lay in a guilded coffin

I'll know I was a good man.