How Many Lifetimes – A Poem

I dreamed we

were in a

cabin. There was

a crowd of

other people and

those in charge

said to us:

“You will be reincarnated into other bodies. You will not remember those you knew before.”

I looked at

you and wondered

what it would

do to me

if I could

never see your

face again, never

hear your heart

beat. We knew

that the world

was changing and

this was the

only way forward.

Then the dream

skipped ahead and

I was in

a different body,

everything around me

foreign in this

new skin. I

heard a voice

speak out to me:

“Hello.”

I turned and

saw you. Though

you were in

a different body,

an unfamiliar skin,

your voice set

off fireworks inside

of me. I

looked at your

face and, though

it was not

the same, I

could see you

within it. Despite

their assurances that

we would not

know each other,

we did. As

you came closer

and ran your

finger along the

jaw of my

new face, I

wondered how many

lifetimes we had

lived through together

that we didn’t

remember and how

many more lifetimes

we had yet

to live.