LEAVES

“Truly, truly, I say to you,

before Abraham was,

I Am.”

Time is a book, every page

an infinitely thin slice

static, eternal, whole 

and complete...

each so close to the other,

it seems a flickerless flow.

My first million billion

pages born in June

all those years ago, 

intact.

That girl on the beach and

in the turquoise water,

long legs tangled with mine

even the long-ago sun makes

a pretty stack of unbound folios,

still wet in the summer of love,

intact.

Now is already past,

gone but still here.

And my last breath

already taken,

up there... ahead.

My last thought,

"I Am.”

Intact.

Reviews

[Lorry]

I just remembered what this reminded me of, Brane theory, where the universe is like a sheet on the laundry line and sometimes the breeze brushes it against the sheet on the next line, making weird connections like black holes or wormholes and I can't remember the rest! 😊
But I do remember getting lost in the thought of an eternal line of universes, brushing together and creating all those differing connections, ever so briefly but in reality that time would stretch to eons and then my thinking got a bit weird, like "who the hell is doing all that washing?" and "does god wotk in a laundromat?"
The rest is a bit hazy, which may or may not have had anything to do with what I was or wasn't smoking at the time, but that was when I first realised that we all have it so wrong and that "God", was most likely a chick and all men are screwed if that is the case, because as we know to our cost, our minds may handily edit our all the errors we make, but a women never forgets! 😊

[Vol]

Lorry,
Damn! When it comes down to ultimate reality (Besides 42, of course), we, whether as individuals, or all humans collectively, do not know a damn thing about anything. We are probably a viral comedy enjoyed by aliens everywhere...

[Vol]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/are-we-living-in-a-computer-simulation-this-physicist-says-his-study-supports-the-theory/vi-AA1jmLgO?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=318c3350c2bb47e38796a27c57730afe&ei=30

[Lorry]

Well, if its all just electrical information, does that mean Trump and Musk don't exist?
And here's me worrying whether the pill I took was red or blue? 😊

[Vol]

Unfortunately, they ALL exist and the stench of politicians their blind supporters, blind detractors,
and lies put up such a stench I can't breathe...

[Zoe Richardson]

I bought myself a ring inscribed with the words "I am enough." It reminds me that I have pledged never to trust a man or seek a relationship. But it also reminds me that the great "I am" is enough for me. I am on a journey upwards, and the thin-sliced pages of His word is my guide. Perhaps that is not the intent of your poem. But your words reminded me that when I take my last breath, "I am" will be there. There is hope in these words. At least there is for me.

[Vol]

Zoe,
You know, as humans we have just two choices, either there is a God, or there is not. Either choice takes the exact same amount of faith. I BELIEVE in God, I do not BELIEVE in God. Why would I want to continue to live in these ugly times if there is no meaning? Just go back to dirt and be done. I'm sorry, but what a SAD choice that would be!
Additionally, from what I've seen in quantum physics, science is getting quite close to declaring the universe is conscious... you know, GOD! And God knows EVERYTHING, and is actively working to bring every atom and every conscious being to awareness of HIM/HER... And Christianity does that.
Vol

[Zoe Richardson]

It does! You know, science proves the existence of God all the time. It's more subtle than most people realize and so they find it easy to deny Him. The sheer complexity of DNA, and the fact that every single person has a genetic code that is unique to them, could not happen by accident. The infinite variety of plants and other living things couldn't be a fluke. I agree it takes a great deal of faith to believe we are all accidents of nature.

[Vol]

Zoe,
You know what? I am a Christian and so my response is from that point of view. The God of the Bible is real and IS the Universe. The God all the athiests I know, is not the God of the Bible. They don't believe in God as described by the church. Can't blame them either. Some anthropomorphic guy in a toga on a throne taking notes... Quantum Physics, though is about to discover that resistance is futile, the evidence for the existence of God, as you say, is everywhere.

[Zoe Richardson]

I, too, am a believer and so many people have this misguided version of God. He is a Santa Claus in the sky, or he is just some bearded deity waiting to hurl down lightning bolts. So many Christians themselves have this view of God as something they experience emotionally, without ever truly knowing him. I am a logical person. I examine evidence and draw conclusions. And the evidence for a loving Creator is all around me.

[John the Baptist]

I am, not I was or I will be. Perhaps there is never really anything but now.

[Vol]

John,
Time is an illusion if it exists at all. Scientists say energy cannot be created or destroyed, there is exactly the same amount now as there has ever been. All matter is energy. As are we. We all ARE.

[Matthew Kult]

Excellent write and read. You have a way to bring people into your own world, especially on that beach with the long legs.

With love,

Matthew

[Vol]

A little peek of skin goes a long way...

[FGFRANKLIN]

I don't know that I believe in linear time. I think time is more likely an illusion due to universal entropy. My body would tend to disagree however. ;) I enjoyed the read.

[Vol]

FGF,
EXACTLY! Time might be relative to place... If the universe is conscious, as some of those quantum folks believe, then any given event in the vastness of such an idea might not exist until observed/noticed or taken into account, and for the observed, there is no "passage of time...
On the other hand I have been a timeathiest for a very long...uh, er...

[Vol]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/are-we-living-in-a-computer-simulation-this-physicist-says-his-study-supports-the-theory/vi-AA1jmLgO?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=318c3350c2bb47e38796a27c57730afe&ei=30

[FGFRANKLIN]

Yes. I've read about the simulation theory. And I later caught that episode of Why Files. I love that show, it's very entertaining.