-- If Time Stopped --

­­John Herlihy

If time stopped, the world wouldn’t end,

But the world of nature would surely upend.

The four seasons would stop in their tracks,

Nothing to replace what the world lacks.

The sun would never rise in an eternal night,

A full moon hangs low with borrowed light.

No hopes for the future, regrets of the past,

Only the question “What Happened?” to last.

Our ages would be frozen: How old am I now?

In a neverland of timelessness, lost somehow.

Dust motes and spider webs held in repose,

Ghosts suddenly turn visible that nobody knows.

Without time’s movement, there would be less rush,

As happens in the lack of sound, silence offers hush.

Our dreams, not time, make the world go round,

As time give sway to a sense of eternity profound.

- - - - - -

Copyright © John Herlihy

Sunday 5 February 2021