Reaching

Lined up, on both sides of the room,
The bodies seemed so peaceful
39 people (more to come),
Had found a way to join infinity.

They left Earth for Heavens Gate.
Well named I think.
March 27, 1997 these 39 chose to rendezvous
With something traveling behind the Hale-Bopp comet.

They’d prepared for their journey,
Comfortably dressed, wearing dark shoes.
Leaving their bodies prone, on bunk beds
In the Rancho Santa Fe mansion.

Was there a message in those shoes?
Some metaphor for traveling?
They did not look
Like people who wore shoes to bed.

Tragedy becomes farce,
Especially when we're made uncomfortable.
Within days the waters were tested,
“Such a waste of perfectly good shoes”

It was essential to avoid the many Christian images
How could one enter the “Kingdom of Heaven"?
By committing suicide?
Such a terrible sin! Had they not read “The Book”?

What fools, simpletons.
Such a ridiculous belief system.
Surely they were deluded.
Still, there remains a kind of vibration.

If they were absurd… what of us?
Will someone offer a fact,
Just a small one, to note the difference
Separating our knowledge from their superstition?

Soon enough the distinction was found,
Uttered by a neighbor, “They were renters”