Then you are!

Posted on By adcitlali

23:59 — February 18 2030   

Here I am   
Then        you are   

So innocent     you     I?   

I remember holding this same letter   
                           (a weird object)   
                      questioning its authenticity   

Here I am     writing it now   
                      feeling stuck in an anticausal reality
                       — your possible future

Should I tell you about the sky of your tomorrow?
Shall you be protected from tears to come?
                           (Will the joy still follow?)

Here I am     thinking of me     thinking of you
with the power to change it all        to open the alternative path
                                                                (to write a Pandora letter)   

Though    I can             I won’t

                                                   (I wonder how it started to exist in the first place)
                                                           (Was it when I read it first      as you are reading it then?)
                                                            (Or when I wrote it     as I am writing it now?)
                                                             (Was I joking when I first wrote     I remember holding this same letter)

I want you to read the words in my memory  

About today    
  The moon still shines at night
  You are happy
  The path is worth walking      once more  & again
           I would not exchange any tear
                    a single laugh
                    or a casual jump

Here’s your homework
  Can you walk the same path and be as happy as I am?
  If so   burn this letter the night I burnt it     so I can get to write it today

Here’s a clue
  If your future can be the same as mine
  you walked to the balcony and looked at the stars
  right after reading my question about tomorrow’s sky

Here’s the catch
  Can you memorize these words?
  Do you think I did?

Thinking of me     thinking of you
                                                   I


_____Adriana Citlali
XIX-II-MMXV

Written for Poetics @dVerse.
Have you ever imagined receiving a letter or poem from your future self?


Poetry Short story Thoughts

Comments (17)

  1. nice…more than anything i really like your treatment of the conundrum of the letter…the question of how it even began…your doubts…your decision not to screw up what brought you to this point…that takes courage….very cool treatment of the prompt…

  2. I wonder if our knowing of the future will change things or not change anything at all ~ For me, I would be curious to read the letter ~ But then again, I believe that nothing is set in stone, smiles ~

    Thanks for participating Adriana ~

    1. That is exactly the challenge. Even if you think you repeat everything, you do not really know if that is the way it was done the first time. It is like in quantum mechanics, it is not a deterministic situation and many outcomes are possible.
      Thanks for a thought-provoking prompt!

  5. i like the idea of this – the duality – the possibility of change – i think even if the same person would the same life it may lead them along a different path just because of tiny decisions that you don’t even think were important and suddenly they take you completely somewhere else.. cool take adriana

    1. Yeah, change is always possible. Different outcomes are possible. Control is difficult to get … maybe it is good we cannot control our own timeline. WE can only decide on our next step, the one we are taking while thinking about other things.

  6. There is truly a day where i write a letter to self.. in future.. in blog at first.. and hopes of recovery from so many ills.. and in that letter i tell myself WELL is to come.. and surely it does.. when dreams in print before.. become reality as real.. when so written becomes SO DONE..:)

    And future dreams become now…

    To fret over past or future.. to dream of nightmares then or later.. is certainly not a way for happiness.. but in imagination and creativity the “Quantum” human mind unleashed can make a dream written in the past for future.. become now as reality too..:)

  9. really enjoyed the whole read and especially loved the four lines starting with ‘i wonder…’

    And a great question we need to ask ourselves often: Can you walk the same path and be as happy as I am?

  12. I love the way this is so beautifully written! It soothes and prepares… “Should I tell you about the sky of your tomorrow?”

    I love it!

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