From the editor: Where do you want to be when you’re done with this life and go on to the next?
New lyrical Prose from Emily Wilson.
When I am Gone and Dead and Done
When I am gone and dead and done. Burn the body I once knew and loved and hated and broke. Spread the ashes before god, and the angels, and heaven. May all my particles reach that big place in the sky someday. When I am gone and dead and done. Think of this and know where my soul resides. When I am gone and dead and done. I’ll find the places where we first fell in love. I’ll find the first faces we knew. I’ll find the places where this adventure called life first began.
When I am gone and dead and done. They say when you are born the first person you ever fall in love with is your mother. A little after you’re yanked out of that squishy warm waterbed called a womb into some doctor’s cold hands. They spank the bottoms of your feet, clean you up, and you’re back. Back into the arms that cradled you when you were still inside her warm belly. Back and safe and loved. You open your eyes, big and black and you see her. She’s gone through 9 months of misery and several hours of hell. And there you are. Beautiful love.
When I am gone and dead and done. I’ll want to watch this love, this love transfer. Three babies are born every second and I’ll want to watch as many births as possible. I’ll move from hospital to hospital, broken down car to broken down car, flooded home to flooded home. Praying for nothing but love for those babies.
Emily Wilson is from Small Town, Virginia and gets bored easily. She’s hoping to get a novel published in 2010.