by Nolo Segundo

We forget eternity and languish in fear,
drop into despondency, break off hope
and forget the Light, forget the Joy...but
a free soul flies to a home free of sickness
and fear and hatred and most of all,
free of death’s lonely touch....

If we could see, really, really see—then
we would see this life as a moment, a
single dream forgotten on awakening,
till we fall asleep again and dream,
dream once more… and for those who
shake the darkness from their souls,
bathe in that luxurious Light of eternity,
their dreaming will be done and they
will have awakened for ever and ever.

Nolo Segundo, pen name of L.J.Carber, in his 70s, became a published poet in over 80 literary journals/anthologies in 7 countries (such as Heart of Flesh, Ekstasis, Time of Singing) and 2 trade book collections: The Enormity of Existence [2020] and Of Ether and Earth [2021]. The titles, like much of his work, reflect the awareness he’s had since having an NDE whilst almost drowning in a Vermont river: that he has—is—a consciousness that predates birth and survives death, what poets and other people once called the soul. Nominated for the Pushcart Prize 2022 by Spirit Fire Review, he’s retired from teaching English/ESL in America, Japan, Taiwan and Cambodia (leaving there before the time of the Killing Fields), who has been married 42 years to a smart and beautiful Taiwanese woman.