Yes

by David Brooks

You know how 

just before we die

our whole life is supposed 

to flash before our eyes?

Well, should that happen, we’d surely have,

while it is flashing,

to come to that moment when our whole life

flashes before our eyes,

and while that was happening

all over again, we’d come again

to that same moment, and so on,

which is only to say that, while I know

this might not have been good enough for Zeno

and that it’s a certainty

that death happens anyway, for that one 

minute, when that thought came 

and I imagined

living this life 

over and over,

I said to myself, despite

all the effort, all the 

pain of it,

despite

all that has happened

and is likely to

again and again,

Yes, I thought, as I was watching you

getting ready for bed tonight,

Yes, though I knew 

even then

it was crazy beyond measure,

Yes, I would, Yes,

Please, Yes.