Questions are the source of just about all my writing. So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that that it has become a tradition for me to write a new year’s poem. Here’s this year’s:
A minute, an hour, a day.
What is the measure of time?
A child dances with sunlight
A pas de deux that seems to last forever.
An old woman reaches back to first love,
A blink ago.
What is the measure of time?
A child dances with sunlight
A pas de deux that seems to last forever.
An old woman reaches back to first love,
A blink ago.
An hour, a day, a week.
The fragrance of a lilac
Or of a love’s breath
Escapes memory’s grasp
So that only the aura remains,
Fleeting ephemera.
The fragrance of a lilac
Or of a love’s breath
Escapes memory’s grasp
So that only the aura remains,
Fleeting ephemera.
A day, a week, a month.
Time is a bead of mercury
Slipping from my grasp.
Just the act of reaching to hold it
Sends it scurrying away from me,
Gone, unrecoverable.
Time is a bead of mercury
Slipping from my grasp.
Just the act of reaching to hold it
Sends it scurrying away from me,
Gone, unrecoverable.
A week, a month, a year.
The calendar tears off another page.
Yet the earth does not pause
In its journey round the sun.
We shout, “Stop! Let us pause,
Remember, reflect.”
The calendar tears off another page.
Yet the earth does not pause
In its journey round the sun.
We shout, “Stop! Let us pause,
Remember, reflect.”
A month, a year, a lifetime.
We measure the immeasurable,
Impose dates, hours, meaning on infinity.
Yet a smile reaches through the ether,
Caresses my heart and lifts my soul,
Beyond time.
We measure the immeasurable,
Impose dates, hours, meaning on infinity.
Yet a smile reaches through the ether,
Caresses my heart and lifts my soul,
Beyond time.
A year, a lifetime, a moment.
No calendar with years that end,
No clock ticking away the days.
Only you, me, us, reaching for connection,
Finding ourselves within each other.
Wonder. Peace.
No calendar with years that end,
No clock ticking away the days.
Only you, me, us, reaching for connection,
Finding ourselves within each other.
Wonder. Peace.
If you’re curious, here are a few of my other new year’s poems.
Wishing you a new year filled with human connections. Best, Sally
8 comments on “The Measure of Time (a poem)”
“Time is a bead of mercury…” This image is so perfect, and this stanza particularly resonated with me. Thank you for sharing your poetry tradition.
Thank you, Pamela. That means a lot to me.
Thank you for sharing this remarkable work!
You had me at…
A child dances with sunlight
A pas de deux that seems to last forever.
And then held me until the end. This piece appears straightforward but contains complexities and layers that demand rereading. And rethinking.
Bob Zaslow
Bellingham, WA
Thank you, Bob. That means a lot to me.
Good job!! — and I sent it off to others
john
Thanks, John.
Lovely!
I’m glad it resonated for you, Randee.