The Next Life Poem by RIC BASTASA

In the next life
you will be a tree
grounded,
immobilized
but fruitful still

next is you,
you become a turtle
with a finished house
to live and carry

next is you,
always having light
a firefly

and you
shall be the crocodile
you can live
well both in land
and water

and you
shall be the star
so beautiful and
yet so distant

and you
shall be the stone
hard and so
unfeeling
no worries
no angst
no pain
no joys either

and you
who has suffered much
but survived
without any word
of protest
shall become one
of those
gods
in your chosen sky.