Did I Know You?

Did I know you?

Did I walk with you

And talk with you, 

In the life that came before?

Did I sit with you 

And laugh with you

And look up to you?

Like any little sister would-

Did you know me?

Did you guide me

And teach me

In that life that came before?

Did you listen to me

And laugh with me

And love me,

Like any older brother would?

And when you left,

Did we embrace?

When losing my dear brother,

Did I weep at your feet?

Did I know why you had to go?

Did you know I would miss you?

Before you left,

Did you kiss me goodbye?

But when you arrived,

I must have rejoiced!

I must have sung for you

For the accounts surely say so-

The universe was happy,

Every living thing. 

But would I have been so happy,

If I knew what was to come?

When the thorns were placed

On your benevolent head,

And you were taken away,

Did I see it?

And as you fell to your knees

And the rope, then,
Ripped through your skin,

Could I hear it?

When the rope was dyed red

And then rung out

Like a wet towel,

Was my heart rung out too?

Was I standing alert?

Ready to descend at your call,

Knowing all the while 

That the call would never come-

Did I witness the end?

Pierced and bleeding-

Surely I did not--For I,

I do not have the strength.

I couldn't bear it-

But you would.

Even though I'm the one

Who needed it.

But when you returned,

Did I recognize you? 

Were the wounds still fresh,

In flesh and in mind? 

Upon seeing you again,

Did we embrace?

Did I stare at your hands?

Looking quite different than before

I must have wept again-

Relieved to have you back

Yet pained by what they-

What we had done to you. 

But at least I had you back

Forever, it may have seemed.

Until one day,

It was my turn.

And when I left,

Did we embrace?

When losing my dear brother,

Did I weep at your feet?

Did I know why I had to go?

Did you know I would miss you?

Before I left,

Did you kiss me goodbye?

Was I scared?

Or excited?

Was I worried that, perhaps-

I wouldn't remember you?

Still, I knew who I was. 

Unsure of the future,

Yet confident,

I made a resolve. 

That I would continue

To walk with you,

And talk with you,

In the life that came next.

To sit with you

And know you,

To stretch through that veil

To follow you.

And even now,

I must remind myself

Every day,

That you know me too.

That you guide me

And teach me,

In this life,

As in the one before.

But I still can't shake

The fact that

I miss you.

And I continue to wonder-

Will I know you?

Will I walk with you,

And talk with you,

In the life that follows next?

Surely I ask

If I will recognize you,

But after my journey,

Will you recognize me?

Of course you will.

For you knew me,

Before I even knew myself.

Both my joys and my sorrows.

You know

My trials and struggles

Even if

They haven't happened yet.

And you know 

My joys and triumphs

In the present

And the future.

Most of all,

You know 

All of the answers 

To all of my questions.

The biggest one being:

When I see you again,

When we meet next,

In another life,

In another world, 

In another time,

Will we embrace?