The Great Before

Long time past, I tumbled, twisted and turned in dark space, only a speck, a conscious thought part of a mineral mass hurtling on a never-ending path away from our star's radiating warmth. In the cool darkness before I could not see. Taken from my spinning content, thrust into life, filled with wonder that I could be. Unremembered adventures now passed are still faint in my mind. I cried with fear from long not being consoled only by a warm caress. Then my heart lifted, awakened to the evening lanterns that illuminated my beloved Kaifeng city my intellectual home, my Karmic delight. Once again the cycle changed and with it too I went. Then the beating sun across the Nazca desert plane as again I fell into life's first breath. Domination over others my ego's refrain. Powerful legs propelled my run into battle as I greeted my next death. Then deep in darkness, the sea around us all, Nubian labored breath was close amidst the storm, so hard we rowed. A quickened pulse in fear as I gasped and finally submitted to drink the sea. Nothing meant anything to me, thoughts only a blur of a dimming past. Now, feelings persist even though I cannot tell you why. The new day strikes me with a blast of light. The now has meaning, the after, eternally bright. Note: Tribute poem to David Whyte, British/Irish writer, poet, thinker.