i want to write
the story of
a hundred thousand lives
to think and live and be
a dozen different people
or maybe more

a baker, a sewer, a chef, a surgeon
a cop, a singer, a writer, a thief

there's not time enough to be
i want to live as someone for 28 years
then go back
and do it all again

an astornaut, a teacher, a father, an actor
a photographer, a ranger, a poet, a reporter

this world is full of so many things
good and bad and black and white
and every color in between

a physicist, a painter, a prophet, a nomad
a soldier, a sailor, a witch, a hero

i can't choose just one, and be content
i want to be so many different people
myself is only one, but to change would be a lie
i want to live a hundred thousand lives

a quilter, a hobo, a pianist, a composer
a therepist, a firefighter, an economist, a banker

i know who i want to be
but i want to be other people, too
i know myself too well
i want to know others

a lexicographer, an anthropologist, a diplomat, an engineer
a conductor, a glass blower, a sculptor, a Roman

if there are, in fact, past lives
i want to remember
i want to have been a hundred thousand people
and i want
to do it all again