Tales Of A Poet

The Life Of Scooper

I knew I had died, but in the next instant something had happened. As the darkness consumed me, it was suddenly replaced with a light. Was this the so called afterlife? No.. after closer observation my vision came into focus. I see the ocean.. and eggs? Am I in some sort of nest?

No.. that's not possible. I had died, I know that. Yet here I am. As the whole world came into greater focus I looked around. I was indeed in a nest, surrounded by eggs. But why did they look so big? I looked around more, and realised that the nest was nestled directly over the ocean, on the underside beams of a pier, I would say. Why am I here? I bent down and held out my hand. My.. hand?

As I looked down I was overcome with an overwhelming sense of shock and uneasiness. Where my hand should be I found the tip of a steely grey wing. I moved my "arm" only to confirm my worst fears. I.. I had no arm. I had a wing. I moved it hesitantly, unsure of what I was doing before I quietly looked down. My breasts, they weren't human. Before me lie the breast of a bird. I looked further down. Flippers..

Before I could muster another thought of bewilderment a noise shocked me to the core. To my left sat a female pelican. Was this my mother..? No.. I was a human. This must be some kind of dream. I must still be alive in the hospital. Maybe I was in some sort of coma? The accident had been pretty fatal. I was sure I had died, but here I am. In a nest, in the body of a pelican.

If this was all a dream then why.. Why did I feel such love for the bird in front of me? It was so strong, so familiar. This.. this was my mother, I am sure of it. She had raised me for quite some time. What had it been now, one year? Two? I still remember the way she would head out every morning without delay, returning some hours later with her bill full of fish. I remember how she would lean over me and drop one in my mouth, two. Mother fed me more than my siblings. I must have been thin. Or maybe she just loved me more. That must be it. Oh how mother loved me so.

I remember now, my siblings had left about a year ago and mother had recently laid another set of eggs. It was time for us to grow up and leave the nest. We had all learned to fly. As my brothers and sisters flew off one by one, I had stayed. I needed mother, and I thought she needed me.

Why.. Why do I have all of these memories? Why do I feel such warmth? Such nostalgia? I was a human! My name was.. I no longer remember, but I'm sure I was sixteen. I had been in a terrible car accident and was taken to the nearest hospital. They said that I was in too bad of shape, but before I got there- I.. I had died. My heart had stopped and the darkness came, but now.. I was here. I was alive; and I was a pelican.

No Heaven, No Hell has been laid before me, but instead a new life; the life of Scooper. Yes, that was my name now, Scooper; the pelican.

And thus reincarnation has unfolded, setting me up with a new life, a new mother, a new body, a new happiness, and I will cherish this life like it is my last. For we never know when our time will truly come to an end.