The Shortness of Time

 

Bells, bird song and space-time coexist ,
the eternal atomic clock-tick-tock never stops,
while heart ticks are finite.
At the end one cannot care about perpetuity.
Tall trees, beset by gypsy moths
or hurricanes, weakened, fall,
and I contemplate a shortened time.
Is time measured by the strength of breath,
sturdiness of the heart?

Oh, how long these days seem
how long ago was January?
Each day is much like another
wake, exercise, dress and all the rest
like a ritual, repetition, renewal,
you almost lose count while time
tick tocks along calendar squares.
Kent Bowker
July, 17, 2916