Future Past
Travelling upon the dusty roads of finite unwinding existence,
Grit seconds embed in the treads of ragged unstitched shoes,
The day turns to night with resigned, mute inevitability
And night turns to day in return with no other way to choose.
The present is either always here or never here at all,
For it arrives and fades out a sub-atomic second split,
The snap of a finger, the blink of an eye, the crack of a whip,
So the present doesn't really exist, in any way you look at it.
The future is the time after the present or only the present in waiting,
This being the case, which it probably is, then, the future may not be,
In a perpetual flow of fluid disintegration and leaving alone,
And then becoming the past, and left for dead, recombinant memory.
None of us have a future, not as the term of substance we use,
As if it were a promise of opportunity and life of living treasures,
When it is nothing more than the present to be, or that which has ceased to be,
A belief process in occurrence, recurrence and insubstantial measures.
Yet, more so, there is love and faith and hope, yes, these gifts
Establish our philosophic future more than the passage of time, land and sea;
For humanity is as humanity does, and the only potential future it has
The only substance possessed of it, is to be the best it can be.
No matter how fleeting the cosmic arc through time’s relativity,
The enduring and transcendent nature of cycles of birth and death
Allow for the chance, the evolutionary drive, to better what has been,
In exacting change, no matter how small, no matter the depth and breadth.
Now the grit seconds embedded in the unstitched treads may be
Diamonds or dirt, depending on the way we walk or the pressure of each foot,
Our trajectory across the landscape and surfaces we step on,
Characterises our being by how we move or how we stay put.
We may stray from the path, and we will, and we may stumble and fall,
It is the getting up and moving on when all is done and said,
The direction we take and the way we conduct ourselves in approach
Defines our lives, those in our wake, those by our side and up ahead.
Copyright © Tony Bush | Year Posted 2005
Post Comments
Poetrysoup is an environment of encouragement and growth so only provide specific positive comments that indicate what you appreciate about the poem. Negative comments will result your account being banned.
Please
Login
to post a comment