Time

“How did it get so late so soon? It's night before
it's afternoon. December is here before it's June.
My goodness how the time has flewn. How did
it get so late so soon?”
- Dr. Seuss
 
On a bend
my car slo-mo slides
dreamlike
across the snow
misses a telegraph pole
but does slip
softly down a slight
incline and into a ploughed field.
 
Bump! Bump! Bump!
 
Is this real?
I’m still gripping the steering wheel
but time is stilled. Has stalled?
 
Now my right knee throbs.
There’s an ache in my neck
a twinge in my back.
I’m shaken. Not broken.
I can’t believe this has happened.
 
   *  *  *
 
Time.
It does drag.
 
But in reality it doesn’t.
 
Does not stop. Does not stand still.
Does not pause until you press play.
 
And you can’t hold it back.
Send it packing.
 
Remember those endless lessons
(physics, chemistry, maths)
waiting for the bell to set you free.
 
It never rang.
But then it did.
 
And those long summer holidays
that went on forever. They ended.
 
The new term began. Always.
 
   * * *
 
Now that I’m
‘passing rapidly through time’
I want to hold out my palms
and say ‘Whoa,
slow down
 
take
 
your
 
time, Time
 
donate me another minute
or maybe an hour, a week
a month a year a decade.
Please let me walk
with you a while longer
 
I love you.
I can’t get enough of you.
 
Don’t run out on me.
I’m not ready for an untimely…’


Art by Bernard Barnes