Migration of Souls

czribou migration photo by Rachel Kobernick

Millions of Monarch butterflies,

fluttering tag-teams,

cross thousands of miles

to journey to their

place of origin.

A million wildebeeste cross the Serengeti,

propelled along ancient, instinctive pathways.

Caribou traverse the northern wilds

along a route they have followed

for millennia.

Grey whales swim, their babies by their sides,

 along the western coast,

from birthing to feeding grounds,

such a long journey.

And seven billion human souls

are making their own migration from birth to death,

trekking the mountainous reaches,

stumbling across deserts,

treading water, floundering,

searching for and finding

one's own circadian rhythm

in the fluctuating cadences 

of life's waves. 

Each soul is heading out

on a route honed by instinct

and a thousand years of prayerful travel,

towards the Portal of Mystery

at life's end,

driven forward by a force 

far greater than ourselves,

an unstoppable journey

through All That Is

towards a finite point

we cannot fathom,

when we will slip out of our cocoon,

and don wings,

our souls taking flight

into Whatever Comes Next.