When We're Gone And No Longer Poem by Mark Heathcote

To be there when we're gone and no longer
That freshly taken photo with our children
In some movie at a wedding as a spectator
Part of the scenery, not yet an anachronism
A footnote in time isn't that our aspiration…
Remembered as a star in their constellation.

… Orbiting their hearts, their starry heavens
Still shedding some contributory light
That guides them on their path, a presence
That gives them the courage to face the night
To be there when we're gone and no longer
So they might not in their footsteps falter.