Yes

At almost 2.30 am, when you
came to bed
and started
taking off your clothes
I thought I had found a way at last.

You know how, just before we die,
our whole life is supposed to flash before our eyes?
Well, should that happen, then we’d have,
while it is flashing,
to come to that moment when our whole life
flashes before our eyes,
and, while that is happening
all over again, we’d come again
to that same moment,
which is only to say that, while I know
that might have been good enough for Zeno
and that it’s certain that death happens anyway, for that one
minute, when that thought
came
and I imagined
living this life over and over,
I said to myself, despite
all the effort, all the pain,
despite
all that has happened
and is likely to
again and again,
Yes, I thought, as I was watching you,
Yes, though I knew it
even then
to be crazy beyond measure,
Yes, I think I will, Yes,
I know I will, Yes.

The Balcony, University of Queensland Press, 2008
http://www.uqp.uq.edu.au/Author.aspx/996/Brooks
© David Brooks