Sir Osmond's Other Lives

Sir Osmond lifted his hat, 

Smiled at the lady on the sidewalk

Then walked on towards home. 

His wife asked him once again, 

'Where were you all this while? 

Who do you meet when you disappear? '

He tried to pacify her, tried his best again. 

How could she ever understand

Who he really was? A lost soul, 

A time traveller, an alchemist, an explorer! 

'Do you really want to know where I was? 

Do you promise to understand? '

She would not have it any other way. 

So he told her about his other wife, 

The one in the other universe, 

His son who was now a tall, young man, 

The university where he taught philosophy. 

But that was not it, there was more. 

Another secret life, where he was a monk, 

A country where he was a billionaire, 

The disease that killed him much

Before he could touch his forties. 

So many lives in so many worlds. 

'So why be here when you could

Choose to be in any other life? '

He told her the choice was already made, 

That the past always changes the future. 

He had to fulfill all his destinies. 

Then she asked him, 'Which one

Is your favorite? Where would you rather be? '

He took her hand in his hand, 

And asked her to understand he 

Could not choose because they were all his. 

This was not the answer she wanted. 

She cried and screamed and asked him to leave. 

Sir Osmond went outside, 

And walked near the grey river bridge. 

The sun went behind the sky, 

Then came up again like a dying bulb. 

He saw the lady on the sidewalk, 

But this time he did not smile, 

He did not acknowledge her at all. 

When he reached home, his wife

Asked him where he had been. 

He looked into her eyes, 

And touched her old, wrinkled face. 

'I was in Lancashire, selling my old books, 

Meeting old friends, packing it all in. '

'Did you miss me?', she asked. 

He told her he had missed her, 

That he would always stay home from now on, 

He would never leave or travel again. 

When she was satisfied, he stepped outside. 

The lady on the sidewalk was gone. 

But he was sure he would see her again. 

He knew it, because those were the eyes

His tall, young son had inherited. 

That was the life he had been looking

For before he had gone on other paths. 

They all led to his son, they all led

To the lady on the sidewalk.