Time

Time

Thoughts…

Most of my life has been illusory in some ways. I was never sure exactly where I was headed, nor did I know how long I might be there. I’ve always approached life as some form of a Jenga game. A push here, a pull there. Teasing the best out of whatever might come my way. But a plan?

Hardly.

Oh sure, episodically I knew exactly what I was doing.

But exactly where I was going, and why?

No idea.

I was always ‘aware’ of time, its limitations, the physical manifestations of how it has impacted me, personally. But like someone with real cognitive deficits, I’ve avoided facing the fact that time is a gift.

All of us have no idea as to whether our ‘time’ will be long or short, just as we have no idea if our health and the measures we take to sustain it will not be precluded by the immediacy of accident or illness.

Death was just a rumour. An unpleasant fiction.

As I’ve grown older, my ‘time’ has more meaning. I revel in those things that at one time would have been wasted time.

Hearing the wind move through the trees. Feeling the sun on my skin while lying on a hill where clouds float by like so many ethereal marshmallows. The warmth or the chill of water upon my skin. The burbling of a brook and the sparkling reflection of the sun on the water.

All of this, now matters.

The sound of a bee as it whispers past my ear.

Is it aware? Does it ‘know’ what its life is about?

I believe that is what draws me to photography and cinematography.

For the briefest of instants… I can see, and freeze….time.

And so, I wrote this short poem. More as a question than an answer to anyone, even me.

TIME

Time is not a blessing, nor is it a curse

It hovers like a pendulum

Inexorably and yet doing its worst

Part of the continuum

I want time to find nature, solace I guess

For all the wasted time I’ve spent

On this travelogue through no known objective

Time is not given, it is lent

So here I am, broken but still barely bent

Wondering how I can manage

Contemplating what I need to be content

As I examine the damage

I’ve decided that my road, the one less known

Offers the most challenge as well

For one who has broken nearly every bone

And knows it is destined to dwell

Because, either way, all we possess is time

We came to this earth with little

And when I think of what I own, what is mine?

Only my physical being, my mettle

I’ve tested, and surprisingly found it strong

Not because I knew it would be

But simply because I didn’t know how long

I would have to be, just me

Now I do travel to look and seek advice

Though questions are illusory

Where am I headed, would you please be concise

I’ve only heard the cursory

An hourglass marks and passes the sands that age

Like quicksand I must climb the cone

Before I’m buried, surely answer, be sage

Was the price, nothing but a loan?

Use your time wisely, whatever you deem that to be. Because we cannot hold it, forestall it….keep it.

May this time be of your making.

Enjoy its passing.