in another life, you and i worked west virginia coal mines side by side, collecting the black dust like sin. the day the main shaft caved in, i caught your eye. as the lantern light guttered out and the afterdamp swallowed us slowly, i gripped your hand - and caught a glance of the next time 'round.

in another life, you and i were red guards in training, side by side. we marched on tiananmen - turned our own parents in for hoarding rice. and in the great leap forward, we crawled on our bellies and died. a blood orange sky gave a cry of the next time 'round.

and in another life, you were married at thirteen, i was killed at twenty-one on a minor battlefield. you were buried beside your second stillborn child, your last thought it seemed, a fever dream.

and we feel it like the shiver of a passing train. that other life deep underground, you and i, side by side. we are the next time 'round.