-- Shaped by Time –

John Herlihy

Believe it or not, we are shaped by time,

Drag its heavy ball, pulled through brine.

Time often moves with the pace of a snail,

Or rides the wind with the force of a gale.

Time offers certain positive perspective,

Never still, even in moments reflective.

Often time feels to us as light as a feather,

Hours of day pass thru all kinds of weather.

Hours did I say, how they flee away a thief,

Hours that linger without offering any relief.

Days of patient waiting, months, even years,

The sorrows, the miseries, and yes the tears.

Future waits with its promise of tomorrow,

Today finally arrives with hours on borrow.

Noon and midnight, but bookends to moods,

Our ups and downs riding on time’s grooves.

Then what happens: all dumped into the past,

Highs and lows featured by day, but never last.

Did I forget I was nothing but an innocent baby?

As an old man now asking: can I do this? Maybe.

Everything is shaped by time, by its tender hand,

Still time left to fly, without worry where to land.

- - - - - -

Copyright © John Herlihy

Thursday 2 September 2021