Deja Vu

I just keep seeing them, the hooves pounding those old rain-soaked cobblestones, somewhere in the back of my mind.  I feel the creeping fog against someone else’s skin, not mine.

An old iron lamp post and that old lamplighter, impressions are burned into my third eye.  I knew him in another lifetime.  I’ve traversed so much time, so many centuries in brief seconds.

All of my senses succumb to the lamp’s flame as it burns the oil and the scent of that old pipe that he smokes, this lamplighter. 

Who is the woman in lace whose body, in which I am?  From whose eyes do I look out over this emerald landscape from bluestone walls?  She does not know the lamplighter in that other place.  She lived four centuries before him, yet she is inside my head...my body.

Past lives reside in the soul’s backpack.  We carry them through numerous incarnations and occasionally a memory escapes to speak, when we need it the most.






2-20-2023
Deja vu Poetry Contest
Unseeking Seeker
Copyright © | Year Posted 2023

Poem

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Kingston Avatar
September 11, 2026 at 9:01 PM
I must confess, your first few lines made me think of Paul Revere on his horse with his light as he rode around trying to save the poor souls from the British. "Emerald landscape from blue stone walls" What an image, what a beautiful line! I'm glad to have come across your poem with it's French name.
Kauffman Avatar
March 6, 2023 at 2:55 PM
ML your lines are filled with a mystical experience of a vivid deja vu. Recently I was part of a prayer service for those in our area who died violently in 2022. We carried a cross with the first name of that fallen soul. Suddenly, I connected with that person in time and space outside of time and space. Other people had the same experience. I will always remember that person. Your story is told with such elegant finesse and imagery! Congratulations on your win. Blessings!
Kiser Avatar
February 24, 2023 at 9:05 AM
It took no imagination...it was a very strange experience and it happened when I was researching my family tree. Very weird, but I found someone afterwards that led to a fascinating story. Thanks
Kendrick Avatar
February 20, 2023 at 1:28 PM
A wild imagination used in writing this one. Thanks for sharing. Sara
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