0182 Parents (2) Poem by Michael Shepherd

OK, you don’t have to believe this;
but it’s worth thinking about.

Here’s the theory – it’s as beautifully
simple, and as subtle in its implications,
as any mathematician would enjoy:

In the succession of our lives,
leading by so many, many rebirths
to our perfection, each life
is shaped by our actions
in the previous life

and, deep, deep in our soul -
which wants only the best for us,
while we live through what’s laid down
by our past – some sublime reasoning
sets up the handicaps which we must
transcend in our next life; that is, this one

rather as if a jockey or a show-jumper
sets up the hedges, fences, walls, and water-jumps
for themself, so that they themself
may test themself to ride a greater course,
maybe a perfect round..

I’ll cut the moral, here. It’s all
beyond acceptance, and personal forgiveness, though
that’s a start; just a lifetime of
opportunities to ‘make something of yourself’
knowing in your heart that ultimately -
that is, right now -
it’s for the good

so, for a nice friendly family start:
you yourself chose your parents..

OK, you don’t have to believe this;
but it’s worth thinking about?