Time

Do I doubt the shiny glass
Which shows the print of time
Around the curve of my mouth and eyes?
Years and years
Of the widespread wings of hope
Folded in the shadows of concern
Caught in the claws of fear
So many years, so many years 
The folding and unfolding of wings...
How do I erase
The memories of past deeds and things
Which have fallen into unpleasant places 
Upon my face?
There lies a timeline
Behind my eyes...

My children wish to hurry it
In a flurry, with a fury
Want to skip and push the wheel around
And around and around
A merry-go-round
To swerve around the curve 
Of the earth's revolution
While I want to drag it
With my heels skidding the ground
To secure it for a moment
To ponder a solution

Yet there was a time I felt like them
Are not these the same eyes
Which first beheld my own mother?
I saw these eyes anew
Each time I birthed another.
There lies a timeline behind...

Grandmother lay in a hospital bed
A cloud of white
Her hair, her thin tired skin
Bed sheets
Mouth drawn in a straight line
Pain behind her pale blue
Remembering her with dark hair
Glistening eyes
But here she lies...
I rave at time as if it were the criminal
Yet I know the truth of this decay
When first weeds and thorns began to spread
The day humanity lost its innocence
The first lamb lay dead
A time like no other
   The anger, the blood, the curse of time
   The broken heart
   The loving promise of the Father

At the foot of the cross
Blood stained the wood
Blood stained time
Left an indelible mark
A day like no other
Jesus Christ
The perfect lamb
Against which time cannot stand.

Copyright © Barbara Aquila | Year Posted 2018

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