Next Time…

Next time, I want a life
in more dimensions.
Not just for- and backwards,
Not bound so tight to time.
I want to live
not only walking on the earth
but soaring, eagle-high,
or flitting among leaves and boughs,
or swiftly coursing distances
between the trees,
the rooftops,
the ledges of great canyons,
coasting on warm rising airs…

Or I will live more slowly,
cruising with the waves
and diving deep and deeper
into the ever more pressing dark…
I’ll go leaping towards the sky
to crash back down again
with mighty, merry splashing!
I will slow-dance in spirals
with my kin
bubble-netting herring,
and scoop up tons of krill
with wide-mouth grin
and cascades of water
pouring down my chin…

Yes, I will live next time
in more of space,
the ups and downs,
betweens and throughs,
joy-quick as a bird above the quiet earth,
or as majestic-graceful
as a great sea-bound whale,
or playing all the days,
a dolphin spinning, splashing,
grinning, hunting, pretend-mating
with patient, ponderous sea-turtles,
and for real with my own kind
of shining, smiling grace.

Next time, next time…!

June 2021