A Small Story of Time

These are some times, as they say. But that also depends on how you look at time.

Photo by Nathan Wirth, sliceofsilence.com/photography

A Small Story of Time


First, Time was fitted with bookends:
an imaginary beginning
and an imaginary end.
Time stared from the volumes 
looking trapped. 

Then came the divisions: eon, millennia, 
century, decade, year, month, day, second, nanosecond.
Time didn’t know what these were.

For efficiency’s sake, Time was divided into quarters
and for each there was a report. 
Time was made useful that way. 
Time was forward-designed for the future.

It soon became necessary to manage Time
and new devices were created to save it
but the more Time we saved
the faster Time ran away.
Now we need computers to keep up with it.

This was called progress
for it was known that time pointed upward
and had an aim. “The first one there wins.”
Time didn’t hear that last bit
as it was already curving from its line.

“Crazy times,” people said. More and more looked around
and mumbled “End Times,” while others ran by
crying, “we’re running out of time!”

In the ground beneath everyone’s feet
Time had curled up inside an Alder seed
and did not know it was ending
or running out of itself.

Time slept a long, slow winter
till one day, feeling a warmth around its bed
it breathed in water and oxygen, and cracked open.
Sending down root, and upward a shoot toward the warmth 
it pierced a crack in the soil, climbed into air
and looked at the sun for the first time.

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