I
haven’t posted today’s poem on the blog since 2009. It appears today for no other reason than, as
I grow old, I become even more acutely aware than ever that time pays me no
more respect now than it ever did.
So
what ever really changes...?
Oh,
we grow up and get on with our lives as best we can, but be sure the child who wants everything to be just so
and wants it yesterday is never far away even if he or she chooses neither to
be seen nor heard. It’s a common enough phenomenon that’s called wishful
thinking...
A
FEELING FOR THE QUICKNESS OF TIME
Yesterday
gone, today soon done, tomorrow
already
on the run from mindless shadows
toying
with unkind thoughts, like a child sent
to
bed early, lessons for the learning - but
instead,
filling our heads with lies, half lies,
(few
home truths getting a look in)
determined
to feel hard done by, not to cry
would
rather die than let anyone see
how
much it hurts to be missing TV, denied
computer
games, nothing to do…
but
call people names. Could read a book,
I
suppose, but who wants to do that
these
days? They’ve taken the MP3 player
too,
talk about getting even, pulling rank!
Being
a kid’s a thankless affair, just wait till
I’m older. I’ll show ‘em what’s what,
high
time they learned what life’s all about
(too
short to fuss about being late home,
Although
(fair enough) should have called
to say so but…what the heck?
Got
home okay eventually, didn’t I?
(Parents,
who’d have ’em...?)
Ranting
and raving at a window, watching
the
sun fade away, listening for voices
we’re
used to hearing say things like don’t,
can’t,
shouldn’t, mustn’t, old enough
to
know better’ - shows they care, I suppose
and
an early night’s not the end
of
the world in anyone’s language even if,
like
the mantel clock, we’re loath
to
acknowledge a fault, tailoring time’s cloth
to
suit the parts we play; child grown-ups
getting
a life, demanding a real say
in
how our stage be set - not ‘one day perhaps’
but
a resounding yes, NOW
Copyright R. N. Taber 2005;
2010
[Note: An earlier version of this poem appears in 1st
eds. of A Feeling for the Quickness of
Time by R. N. Taber, 2005]
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