Raven 133: Rebirth

Who or what is it that could be reincarnated? Your body? What else? Perhaps just some part of you? That's not you.

Case

Owl asked, "What do you think of the doctrine of reincarnation?"
Raven said, "Not my body."
Owl said, "Maybe my terminology is mistaken. What do you think of the doctrine of rebirth?"
Raven said, "Not my beak."

Verse

And

I am this body and this body,
And you are this body.
This body -- this skinbag with names and habits,

And

This body -- earth and stars; vast, void, unnameable:
How is this body also this body?
Strange.

And

Familiar.
(How much stranger if it weren't.)

It's like children, how they belong to all of us

And

By established convention, there's special responsibility for my own.
The general, easy to forget;
The special, impossible to.
It's like that.

As a toddler demands my attention,
And when she doesn't, compels it nonetheless,
This bag of water and of karma --
Of eros and of dust, Auden said --
Requires attention

And

Attending, I notice
The little one's riveting eyes declare:
This body is this body.

Case adapted from Robert Aitken; introduction and verse by Meredith Garmon

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