Time

if it were not for time

there would be no regret,

for what is regret if not

a lament against the cruel

tyranny of time.

Without time one could go back

right the wrongs, take back words,

undo deeds, bring back the dead.

They say Time heals all wounds

but that is cold comfort

like the hug from the mother

who has just beaten you.

Time is the merciless ruler

of our limited lives.

The boundary we cannot escape;

the prison and the prison guard

doling out universal justice

with no exceptions, no clemency

no chance for convincing arguments

to be heard, considered, to change

the course of events.

And yet without time

there would be no hope

no future, no possibility of change

or the excitement of anticipation.

No reflection, retrospection,

the savouring of memories and

treasured moments.

Without time there would be no loss,

no grief, no pain to remind us that

once we loved and cared

for someone, something, some thing.

Is time an illusion?

A collection of endless units of now

turned linear through the human mind.

Birth, ageing, death; Time’s children

spawned through experience,

communicated through stories,

collapse in an instant when we see clearly.

Everything is as it should be.

Timeless.  Now.

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