We Live By Time
By John Herlihy

We live by time
And not the eternity that is its envelope.
We live in space
And not the infinity that gives the universe its scope.
We live by hours, by days, by weeks
And not the timeless wonderland that everyone seeks.
We search for answers to the universal questions.
By examining minutiae through the lens of a microscope.
We see the miracle of God’s unity but dimly and darkly,
Through the narrow end of the telescope.

We thrive on lies and dreams and illusions,
While Truth’s reality lives in eternity’s day.
We ask questions about our origins and purpose,
Religion answers, but we pay no heed or say nay.
We live our lives as a series of questions,
We take baby steps through nature’s infinite expressions.
When we awaken in the morning,
Only questions escape from our lips,
That have accumulated during the night’s long sleep,
With the coming of dawn, over the horizon they creep.

The interrogatives awaken us,
They are abounding:
How . . . when . . . where and above all who?
Like a trumpet they are continually sounding.
Why do we fret and take ourselves to task,
When nature herself has no questions to ask.
Everything she displays but a veiled mask,
To protect the radiant mystery in which they bask.
To reveal sun beams and moon glow in God’s pay,
Light rays and night shadows on windowsills at play.

Let us live our lives as answers,
To questions even nature never dares to ask.
When we from our slumber awaken,
Sing praise of another day and set about our tasks.
Time moves in stages one second at a time;
Otherwise, everything would happen at the same time.
Time is a necessity even if it is fraught with pain;
Our lives burn by the scorch of individual flame.
Relentless time turns fire into smoke with ease,
That rises in the air and dissipates into the breeze.