I Will Carry My Peace Poem by Martins Akhoeneto

I stopped asking for thanks from people
who remembered only what I could not give,
and forgot the days I gave them everything.

Some hearts are empty vessels;
they remember the one drop you kept for yourself,
but never remember the sea you poured into them.

So I will do what is right without applause.
I will give without begging to be remembered,
and love without keeping score.

Because goodness loses its beauty
when it needs to be witnessed.

Let them remember my absence
if they cannot remember my presence.
Let them speak of what I withheld
and forget what I gave.

I know what I carried.
I know what it cost me.

When I finally walk away,
I will not carry their gratitude with me.
I will carry my peace.