Womb of the World—

                 (Womb with No View)

                                                            Sandy Dickson
                  There were two babies growing in a womb,

And life was limited--that which they knew.

So they realized nothing of what came next,

Only of what they knew here as they grew.

They knew that someday it would all end here

And from this womb they’d have to be leaving.

Aside from that, their beliefs departed,

On what, after this, they’d be receiving.

One, an optimist, one a pessimist,

They talked about this world they occupied.

The first said: “There must be something greater.”

The second: “We’ll not know—we’ll have died.”

The first, the optimist said, “I doubt it.

There’s something great

The pessimist said, “I don’t believe it.

There’s no such thing as life after the womb.”

“Our nutrition will be cut off--we’ll die,

Then what use will our having been here be?”

The first one said, “I know there’s a purpose.

This is all we’ve known so far, but you’ll see.”

“It’s a gut feeling with all my being.”

And if, as the third trimester wore on,

The optimist was the one born first,

The pessimist would see his brother gone;

He’d hear his first cries and think of it all,

As proof his predictions had not been wrong.

From his limited world, he’d have no way

Of knowing of the happiness going on,

On the other side with the fond greetings

Of the parents and loved ones gathered there,

Waiting open-armed for his arrival,

With welcoming smiles—he’d be unaware.

Sometimes we just have to dare to emerge.