What Care I Poem by Francis Duggan

What care I if I'm buried or cremated
For it won't matter to me when I'm dead
If there's a plaque erected to my memory
Or if good or bad things about me are said.

I'd like to live to be a very old bloke
Happy and healthy till my final day
And enjoy the twilight years of my existence
And feel young at heart though I look old and gray.

What care I when I'm dead if I'm remembered
If in years from now others recall my name
I want the recognition whilst I'm living
The dead don't ever benefit from fame.

Don't talk to me of dying for I love living
And of death and sorrow I have heard enough
On the paths of life I want to keep on walking
Though the paths of life can be hilly and rough.

And what care I if I'm buried or cremated
Or a plaque erected in my memory
For when I have died to me it will not matter
If others do or don't remember me.