“If your ambition is to leave a legacy,
what you’ll leave is a legacy of ambition.”
- Rich Mullins
I’ve walked on sidewalks where people
have taken advantage of wet concrete
to imprint their presence and prowess
for all future pedestrians to see.
I’ve never had the opportunity
to leave such a mark, but
I’m also not sure I ever would.
I don’t think well on my feet, and so
would have nothing in the moment
to write worth preserving. Even if I did,
my hyperconscious self would fear how others
might regard such an unknown artist.
The responsible thing to do, I would say,
would be to walk the long way around
and get on with the rest of the day.
I was stopped in my tracks the other day
while on my favorite park trail—
not too far from a bench given
in memory of someone’s beloved Mary Young—
when I noticed footprints of a bird running
perpendicular to the path, fossilized
in the dry concrete. I found it hard to imagine
a bird looking over its left wing and facetiously
telling his friends this was his chance to
to cement his legacy for all time. I pictured
instead a bird concerned with food or nest building,
going about his mundane, daily tasks
and unknowingly leaving a lasting mark.