It used to seem that time moved slow
now I holler: “where’d it go?”
When I was a kid it was wait, wait, wait
as if life was dawdling, ever late
“Just a minute,” mom would say
I swear it felt like a half a day
Birthdays, Christmas, summer, driving:
the good stuff took its time arriving
I couldn’t wait to reach the age
of independence, free from the cage
of things a little kid must do,
like mind my folks, teachers, curfew
I felt these things just held me back,
made life’s flavor seem to lack
some certain thing I couldn’t say
Adulthood, I thought, was to play
But now it’s here and going fast
my future seems to be my past
I know that soon I’ll turn to dust
and I’ve just started – barely, just!
In shock, I watch my daughter grow,
and want to scream out: “slow down – whoa!”
There’s not the time I’d like to spend
with myself, family, and my friends
Going to work and paying bills,
developing really boring skills
to help me carry all these taxes
Does anyone know when life relaxes
it’s grip on us?
The clock of life, once fully wound,
runs down quick with just the sound
of our last sighing, sluicing breath
Time, it seems, comes with death.
cae 11/10/08
