You have forty-nine days between

    death and rebirth if you're a Buddhist¹.

    Even the smallest soul could swim

    the English Channel in that time

    or climb， like a ten-month-old child，

    every step of the Washington Monument

    to travel across， up， down， over or through

    ——you won't know till you get there which to do.

    He laid on me for a few seconds

    said Roscoe Black， who lived to tell

    about his skirmish with a grizzly² bear

    in Glacier³ Park.  He laid on me not doing anything.  I could feel his heart

    beating against my heart.

    Never mind lie and lay， the whole world

    confuses them.  For Roscoe Black you might say

    all forty-nine days flew by.

    I was raised on the Old Testament⁴.

    In it God talks to Moses， Noah，

    Samuel， and they answer.

    People confer with angels.  Certain

    animals converse⁵ with humans.

    It's a simple world， full of crossovers.

    Heaven's an airy Somewhere， and God

    has a nasty temper when provoked，

    but if there's a Hell， little is made of it.

    No longtailed Devil， no eternal fire，

    and no choosing what to come back as.

    When the grizzly bear appears， he lies/lays down

    on atheist⁶ and zealot.  In the pitch-dark

    each of us waits for him in Glacier Park.a