The Circle

In this arc that is life
We are born
We breathe
We eat
We cry
We love
We hurt
We’re hurt

We learn to speak
In ways elegant
And ignorant

We grow old
Or we don’t
But all of us
We die

And some believe
That’s when darkness falls
Oblivion
The end of days
The end of I
The return to

Nothingness

But I
Not I

I have seen
The other side
Another time
A time before
A time to come
A time not-time

And so I know
As truly as I can
That existence carries past
The arc’s final point

I carry through
Another arc
Its path
I cannot see ahead
Nor remember from
This other side

But existence
Is a circle
Not an arc

Until
As Buddha notes
I see the light
The circle closes
Becomes a point
Which becomes all