Then? When? Now? It’s Just a Matter of Time

“Grass ii” by satakieli is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

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Then? When? Now? It’s Just a Matter of Time

By Jane Tawel

March 9, 2023

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No one knows what happens.

Don’t believe them when they say they do.

They tell you there’s a Heaven out there

and so, we stop focusing;

our eyes grow bleary with the hopelessness,

of bringing Heaven to earth now.

There can be no fear if we admit

we simply never know enough.

Never enough — 

not then, not now, not whenever.

I hope to hope

mostly from now on,

to hope in what I can not know.

Let’s live in hope,

that all who seek might find,

and all might have and be at home,

here and now.

*

And no one knows the Truth

of what once happened

long ago or yesterday.

Your truth can never be mine,

nor mine yours,

but therein lies peace.

We all have inner-inter-interpretations;

and the impressions left on hearts and minds

run deeper than a chasm of doubt,

run deeper than any one can dig us out of,

run deeper than a mother’s love,

run deeper than a child’s dreams,

run deeper than a hope unborn.

The ruts are deep

and mine are mine to mine

and yours are yours to rest in if you choose.

All of us should stand ready,

above the ruts we’ve worn,

and hold out hands

to lift another up,

or perhaps just to see

if arms are really wings

and we can fly.

*

I tried to write a final verse

about living in the moment,

but instead I went out to lie in the green field,

and there I played with a blade of grass.

And I thought no more of yesterday.

And I thought no more of tomorrow.

And I thought no more of you or me.

And I thought no more,

but rested there,

and played a little with a blade of grass,

and hummed a small and meaningless tune.

*

Then? When? Now?

It’s just a matter of Time.

I have so much to un-accomplish,

and so little else to say.

Time is short, contracting in upon itself.

Only what we love will last.

Come be with me,

until our time has passed.

And of yesterday,

we will remember only love.

And as for tomorrow,

we will need know nothing,

only Love.

And as for now — 

Come, let us laugh,

and play with blades of grass.

*

© Jane Tawel, 2023

Checkout “Suddenly, God” and Keep Reading

I recently published a piece on Medium.com. Medium is somewhat like WordPress, but different too.  It’s a great place to check out all kinds of stuff and almost daily I will make time to read some things I find on their website. I also follow a few writers there, as I do on WordPress.  I hope you will check out my latest and give me a clap if you like it.  If you don’t like it, find something else you do like and give an author a shout-out.  Authors, no matter how loudly they may write,  are really  timid and shy forest animals that need coaxing into the light.

My piece on Medium is an essay I reworked and did a major rewrite on called “Suddenly, God”.  If you have already read it on Medium or found it via my  LinkedIn page, thank you.  If you haven’t and want to read it you can go to my “friend’s link” here and click on my name in the picture:

View at Medium.com

 

Thanks for reading whatever you may find yourself reading today.  In these Orwellian times, reading seems vitally critical to the existence of humanity,  to me at least. But then reading has always been important to me.  To riff on Harper Lee , “Until I feared we would lose it, I didn’t preach about loving to read.  One does not love  breathing”.

Don’t just read  the headlines or infomercials or even the plethora of self-help blips, and I read all of these things. But set aside real time to read deeply and enjoy a good novel or short story or essay — there are lots of them.  Read stories and poetry and fairy tales and essays. As George Martin said, “The reader lives a thousand lives before he dies.  The person who never reads, lives only one.”

Live your lives today,  one book at a time.

Jane