When she was four,
my daughter told me
that before she was born,
she was a stream.
“I have been a stream
longer than you,”
she said.
I believe it.
Both the stream part
and the age thing.
She is wiser than me, but
I can’t let her know it.
Not yet, anyway.
*
She’s not the only one.
Young children often
mention past lives.
It’s common at that age.
There are books about it.
It makes sense to me.
Quantum mechanics, etc…
The butterfly effect and such.
Hold the door open for someone
or tell them that you like their belt.
See how it shifts the tenor of their day.
Of course we are connected.
*
I started to get confused about God
around age 13, I think.
It’s that way for a lot of kids.
Hormones. Freedom.
But then we’re left with questions,
like, “What happens when… ?”
Maybe the answer is The Stream.
We came from it,
we return to it.
Some of us get reunited,
some of us do not.
*
She’s talked about it
several times since,
The Stream.
To her, it’s no big deal.
“The Stream” may as well be
“the mailbox.” So mundane.
I wonder which one I’ll return to,
and with who.
An invisible cohort.
We are nothing and
everything at once, together.
Or maybe, you know,
she was just four,
and spouting random nonsense.
It’s common at that age.
There are books about it.
Related: @KeyTryer on AI-generated “poolrooms”
Images below:
1) AI-generated poolroom
2) AI-generated poolroom
3) The Roman Pool, Hearst Castle; San Simeon, California
4) Las Termas de San Joaquin hotel pool; Ramos Arizpe, Mexico
5) The Basilica Cistern; Istanbul, Turkey
6) A water processing facility; Germany
