He remembered being human
especially the last time:
striving, thriving, and passionate
about the hills he’d climb
faster than his fellows would.
They would stop and admire the view.
He never stopped until he dropped
and bid that life adieu.

He’d lain in a lane at Lidl.
He had breathed out and not breathed in,
expiring without inspiration
but the wordplay made him grin.

He’d then slid through the edge of a non-ending void
perhaps the same one as before.
After aeons spent there, plus one life as a bear
and a spate where he’d raved ‘never more’

he rejoined a queue of the unchosen few
to apply for a chance of rebirth
as a human again hoping this time he’d win
enough wisdom to live filled with mirth.