One Life, Many Lives

This poem was written when I realized one day that reincarnation, rebirth happens within a single life time, and the longer one lives, the more 'lives' one will have.

I entered a room,
saw familiar strangers
and knew in an instant
they were me: past lives
made living flesh again.

I saw the fat baby, 38
pounds at one year!
(Poor mama's back.)

I saw the angel-face boy
of four who spoke only
gibberish-- the doctors
told my folks, 'Sorry, but
he's an imbecile, best to
send him far, far away.'

Lucky for me Mom and Dad
got a second opinion and
six years of speech lessons
till I spoke like a happy
little English lord....

Then I saw the teenager-- tall,
gaunt of cheek, dismissive of
lesser intellects. I grimaced
and he sneered: I did not like
him nor did he like me, though
we both lamented his virginity.

Behind him stood a 20 something.
I had filled out by then, handsome,
confident with women, tossing them
aside like used hankies, unaware of   
just how vast my emptiness was...
not even knowing I was a blind man
until I crashed hard into that fog-
shrouded iceberg called Death.

And Death took me to that terrible
place where my soul burned briefly
and then, without  explaining,
returned me to life, and I knew
my soul, which one day I had not
believed in and the next day knew
to be absolute, had been seared
but my eyes began to open and
I began to see far, far beyond our
brief world of pleasure and pain,
hunger and feast, war and peace.

Then I met my married self and so
shared with him the happiest day
of our life, when she said yes
to a man still lacking but at least
now trying. Decades later he is
still inching closer to God....

Reviews

[Julie McCarthy (juliesp..]

This is so moving beautiful thanks for entering my competition!

[Nolo Segundo]

Thank you again, J.---your kind words are much appreciated.

[Julie McCarthy (juliespenhere)]

No trouble

[Ishwar Grewal]

the writing is so deep...
i believe in rebirths but what u have said about it being in the same life....that some new information for me to know now...
very well written and thank you for introducing me to the new concept :)

[Nolo Segundo]

Thank you Ishwar-- if we live long enough, we really are both different people and the same person--I suspect paradox lies in the heart of ultimate truth.