There are men whose deeds ring out across the history books
Centuries, even millenia, after they have died
Giants who molded earth and men

Others the world remembers for a generation's time
Great works for king and country fading
As brilliant medals tarnish and heros age

Yet more ply only fifteen minutes on the stage
Men of action wrapping yesterday's refuse
Forgotten almost before they feel the love

Still more are merely footnotes in the greater histories
Interesting only to dry scholars and trivia buffs
Though they figure large in smaller tomes

The Field Guide to North American Stones
Is still a stage upon which to strut
There are those who study it and will remember

Butterflies of Eastern Europe
Can give a few pages to a smaller giant
To keep his memory alive

And no small few aspire through their lives
To such a mention
Though it be a footnote

But there comes a time in most men's lives
When they realise that they will pass unremarked
In the greater books of history

Without even a footnote in such weighty tomes
As Butterflies of Eastern Europe or
The Field Guide to North American Stones