I might be a cat.
That
Would explain my lives.
My first life was spent
Growing up on a farm.
I did little harm
And loved the freedom
Nature bestowed upon me.
Able to see
What lies under the surface
Of rocks and trees.

My second life was spent
As a teen.
I mean
A red-haired freckled
Laugh out loud young woman.
I never learned to be shy.

Then
Marriage and motherhood
Came to change me forever
Into that third life
Of lover and mother.
I spent
A long time
In that bliss-filled life
Until
My fourth life.

I went to college
Got my degree
At fifty! Me!
It was supposed to be
Wonderful.

My next life
Came too fast
As I lost
My son of twenty-five
Who died
Because his pain
Couldn't be contained.
And then my daughter
Took six years
To die.
Extreme grief reaction
They explained.
That life was the harshest
I've ever lived.

My sixth life found me
Far from home
Where I roamed
In search of peace.
I found it
But my husband
Died.
I lied
And said I was fine.

I'm old
I'm told
But this last life
This seventh one
The quiet one
The solitary one
With places still
To be explored
Will be the one
I own as mine.
Once again
Letting nature
Heal me.