Elegy For Milt

Smiles and Laughter

I’d rather be noted for eliciting a smile
Bringing a ray of sunshine into your life
Than to have awards, trophies, and note
In a world increasingly rampant with strife,
We all need to be encouraging one another
A piece of advice that always gets my vote,
Treating each as beloved sister and brother
Learning to be kind must be a matter of rote.
A smile is a frown “turned upside down,”
I’ve been told, and I think it is certainly true
I have no aspirations to be a circus clown
But I’m vowing to do what I’m able to do
To bring to all more smiles and laughter
That’s what I hope to be remembered for
If I’m remembered, at all, in the hereafter!

Written July 17, 2022 by L. Milton Hankins

With smiles I'll remember Milt as the good-natured man I found him to be. I chose his poem, 'Smiles and Laughter,' because it seems he wrote his own elegy in the last four lines. In them, his thoughts tell us how he wanted to be remembered. Milt wrote,

"... I'm vowing to do what I'm able to do to bring to all more smiles and laughter. That's what I hope to be remembered for if I'm remembered at all, in the hereafter."

He tried to please everyone, offering friendship to his poetic sisters and brothers, even those who taunted him for his opinions. He had a competitive nature and enjoyed entering contests but stated in this poem that he'd rather bring a ray of sunshine into lives than have awards and trophies. He was a mild-mannered gentleman but didn't hesitate to defend his friends and country. I see his legacy as one that finds me hoping to be as good a friend to others as he was to me.

January 4, 2023

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