If I Were To Depart Poem by Ndimancho T Nyowikeh

If I were, in the way of all flesh, to depart,
And my body laid deep in ancestral soil,
And you at my funeral, raising your glass,
Will my neighbour say
I was a man who noticed such things?

That upon my departure,
Will you remember me for my vices or my good?
Will my laughter echo louder than my faults,
Or will my shadows outgrow my light?

Will they speak of the hands I failed to hold,
Or the few I lifted from their fall?
Will silence weigh heavier than my words,
Or will my voice still wander in their halls?

And you—amidst the murmur of mourning men,
Will you recall the warmth I tried to give,
Or count the times I turned away,
Too burdened by myself to truly live?

For in the end, when dust greets dust again,
And names fade softly into air,
It is not the flesh that lingers in the earth,
But the weight of all we chose to share.

So tell me, friend, as the glasses rise,
And memory stirs with quiet regret—
Will I be a story gently told,
Or one the heart would soon forget?

Or will I linger in half-spoken thoughts,
In passing words, in borrowed breath—
A fleeting name on familiar lips,
Neither fully alive nor wholly at rest?

NDIMANCHO T. NYOWIKEH
24th April 2026
Up-Station, Bamenda