To Live a Thousand Lives

To Live a Thousand Lives

written by: S.Rowan.B

 

I am not a book. I am a hundred forests, condensed to fit in your hands. I am the ultimate symbol of rebirth, and reincarnation; for I have lived a thousand lives, and will live a thousand more. After you are all gone it will be I who remains constant on this dying planet. I preserve your mistakes and your accomplishments alike, so that you will be known for all eternity.
I am a portal to lands unseen and worlds unknown. I am the words others are afraid to say aloud. When they are forced to bite their tongues, I am the one who speaks on their behalf. I am a proclaimer of love, unrequited and painful, or eternal and sweet. I can give life or take it away on a whim. I am both your creator and your destroyer, an old friend come to take you home.
I am many, and easily outnumber every being on the planet. However, I am also forgotten, left on the shelf to collect dust. No longer shiny and new, I am pushed aside for bright screens and mind-numbing media, lost in a sea of others like me, others who are becoming “obsolete;” but remember that I will always be born again. I am immortal, because you have made me so. That was your one mistake, and when you’re all dead and gone, I will be here. Waiting. When the next version of you sprouts up, I will remind them of all your mistakes, all the things you did wrong, but will they learn? Well, I guess I’ll just have to wait and see.