David Crandall Poet Rhyme

Notes About The Poem

8/20/2026 for My Worst Enemy Is...Poetry Contest sponsored by Margarita Lillico

My Worst Enemy

I'd do it if I could.  I'd commit that awful crime.  
I'd murder my worst enemy.  I would kill time.
I had lovingly honored him and all of his rites -,
the sunrise to start mornings, and sunset to start nights.

I worked every weekday.  On the weekend, I played.
At the end of the month, I'd paid bills and I got paid.
I waited for my birthday and vacations in summer,
I kept rhythm with time, that steady drummer.

At first, that cruel tyrant would slyly pretend
to help me, masquerading as a faithful friend. 
He made me grow tall, graduated me from school,
gave me a wife, a child, and a swimming pool.

That was before he turned nasty - so vile, and so mean,
sending two wives down the road, with a space in between.
He performed evil magic, strange and still stranger.  
One time he turned a sweet kid into a teenager. 

He brittled up my bones, and he bent up my back.
He took my hair and memory and won't give them back. 
While, I've decided to fight my enemy to the end,
we must all remember - time is undefeated, my friend.

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Margarita Lillico August 28, 2026 at 8:09 PM Congratulations David! Clever and entertaining take on the theme. Excellent Timing! Thank you! M David Crandall August 28, 2026 at 9:22 PM Thanks, Margarita - I enjoyed being in your contest! 😊

sara Etgen-Baker August 21, 2026 at 3:01 PM I agree with you....let's kill time...it's so possessive and consuming ... witty stuff. David Crandall August 21, 2026 at 5:21 PM or, if we could just slow it down a little - lol!

Alison A Smith August 21, 2026 at 4:35 AM This is a witty, well-structured personification of Time as the ultimate enemy: a companion at first, then a relentless tyrant. The closing truth lands neatly—however hard we resist it, “time is undefeated.” The poem’s real strength is that it never becomes abstract. Time does not merely pass; it pays bills, changes children, ends marriages, weakens bodies, and steals memory. That makes the final admission feel earned rather than merely proverbial. David Crandall August 21, 2026 at 5:20 PM Thanks, Alison - what a nice review - better than the poet itself - lol! Yep, time has had his way with me. I have a good friend and one of his favorite expressions is "Father Time is undefeated".