The Next Place
By Warren Hanson

The next place that I go
will be as peaceful and familiar
as a sleepy summer Sunday
and a sweet untroubled mind.
And yet...
it won't be anything
like any place I've ever been...
or seen...
or even dreamed of
in the place I leave behind.
I won't know where I'm going,
and I won't know where I've been
as I tumble through the always
and look back toward the when.
I'll glide beyond the rainbows.
I'll drift above the sky.
I'll fly into the wonder,
without ever wondering why.
I won't remember getting there,
Somehow I'll just arrive.
But I'll know I belong there
and will feel much more alive
than I have ever felt before.
I will be absolutely free of the things that I held onto
that were holding on to me.
The next place that I go
will be so quiet and so still
that the whispered song of sweet belonging
will rise up to fill the listening sky with joyful silence,
and with unheard harmonies of music by no one playing,
like a hush upon the breeze.
There will be no room for darkness
in that place of living light,
Where and ever-dawning morning
pushes back the dying night.
The very air will fill with brillance,
as the brightly shining sun
And the moon and half a million stars
are married into one.
The next place that I go won't really be a place at all.
There won't be any seasons-
winter, summer, spring or fall-
Nor a Monday,
Nor a Friday,
Nor December,
Nor July.
And the seconds will be standing still...
while hours hurry by.
I will not be a boy or girl,
a woman or a man.
I'll simply be just,
simply, me.
Nor worse nor better than.
My skin will not be dark or light.
I won't be fat or tall.
The body I once lived in
won't be part of me at all.
I will finally be perfect.
I will be without a flay.
I will never make one more mistake,
or break the smallest law.
And the me that was impatient,
or was angry or unkind,
will simply be a memory.
The me I left behind.
I will travel empty-handed.
There is not a single thing I have collected in my life
that I would ever want to bring except...
The love of those who loved me,
and the warmth of those who cared.
The happiness and memories
and magic that we shared.
Though I will know the joy of solitude...
I'll never be alone.
I'll be embraced by all the family and friends I've ever known.
Although I might not see their faces,
all our hearts will beat as one,
And the circle of our spirits
will shine brighter than the sun.
I will cherish all the friendship
I was fortunate to find,
all the love and all the laughter
in the place I leave behind.
All the good things will go with me.
They will make my spirit glow.
And that light will shine forever in the next place that I go.