I’ve been asking around various places online and off to find kids’ questions to answer. For some reason an unusual number of questions asked by kids on my street seem to concern past lives and reincarnation. We’ve had “Who had me before you had me?” “When will I be born again?” And “Was I ever a grandad?” This last from my small neighbour Rowan.
Herewith, my best guess.
You have always been you.
But the you that is you that is you
Never existed until
The spongy, electrical, pulsating thing in your skull
Came to be what it is.
You have only been you a few years
Since the spongy thing grew.
And when the last neuron goes out
You will stop being you.
(The you that is you that is you)
But still, there is nothing to fear.
Maybe there is a spark
That was part of the you that is you
That can fly between bodies.
And maybe your spark, long ago.
Once lit someone else, from within.
Just the way that, today, it lights you.
And perhaps… perhaps he was a grandad.
But there is no way we can know.
Tom Juniper Poetry 