Great prose for a great title.
I’m not suggesting that this was your intent, but I imagined that I was transitioning from conscious reality to subconscious fantasy as I progressed through your words —as if they were thoughts experienced in the space between life and death.
I think worldly references follow us into the afterlife, in whatever form or duration it exists. I was at my grandfather’s side when he passed at the age of 90. He had worked as a contractor most of his life and as he faded he began to recite measurements; “38 by 72, 44 by 66, 28 by 60”. He continued this until his last breath and although I could no longer hear the numbers I sensed that they were still there subconsciously.
He often lectured us on the importance of using our mind and body to create and produce tangible constructs that we could leave behind for others when we departed. When I left the hospital later that day, I remember thinking that his transition from this world might have been a positive and painless experience for him.
When I leave this world I hope that the experience is accompanied with a nirvana of positive mental imagery such as emerging as a “chrysalis with magical wings” or a “chameleon parked on a rainbow.” But if before I pass, my mind is encumbered by an undelivered tax return, and that worldly reference follows me to death’s door, then I would hope it would subconsciously morphose into “spectacular returns” from God.
