If I had nine lives
like a cat
and could choose
how to live each,
in my first life I would be a poet,
sampling life,
dipping my fingers in mud
and describing the experience,
flying a kite on a windy day
and then writing it all down
like a recipe.

And in my second life
I would be a hermit
living in one room
contentedly
and it would be enough for me
simply to look out the window
and the horizon would stretch out before me
like a vast canvas
and I would feel it all
without even stepping from my cell.
Intuitively
I would know
the feel of mud between my toes
and the sticky residue of grass
where insects have heaved
tiny balls of silk
making little glue traps
for their unfortunate prey.

And in my third life
I would be a mother
and my cloister would be
not the room of a recluse
but the abbreviated hours –
the demands of small children
that can close in on one like walls
and yet that fit together like a prism
revealing things formerly unseen
although they were always present.
The wonder and the curiosity and the recognition –
as when a child
delights in the simple achievement
of a ladybug climbing a blade of grass
or delights in his first recognition
that feelings, like “love” and “happiness,”
have names we attach to them
and can be shared and passed around
like a ball.

And in my fourth life
I would be a musician
and all that I could never say with words,
I would express for you now,
through melody.

And in my fifth life,
I would be an artist,
a muralist,
and my murals,
a dim mirror
of the changing faces of the sky.

And in my sixth,
I would be a runner,
and finally free of the desire to express myself,
but rather I would delight
simply in the joy of being.

And in my seventh life,
I would be a cook,
assembling a palette of tastes,
and all the spices of my childhood
spent in disparate countries
would come together
in a simple supper.

And in my eighth,
I would be a maker of fine instruments.
And I would sit back and listen
to all those who are more talented than me,
who can express themselves better than I could ever hope,
and yet I would enjoy the satisfaction of knowing that
the instrument that I made
played a small part
in the expression of their gift.

And in my ninth life,
I would be a cat –
that cat on the windowsill
looking out
awaiting your arrival
welcoming you
pummeling your lap –
content in your arms,
ready to spring.