(“Crappy Karma Happens Merit Badge”, 2010, original oil)
The simple fact is
People get what they deserve
By the simple fact
That that’s what they get
Karma has a way of doing that
Following you around
Like a shadow, like a puppy
Like a mugger in the dark
Waiting for just the right moment
To take its pound of flesh
Living on borrowed time they say
Borrowed by simply living
When it’s all more a loan
With the debt compounding daily…
Who and what are we borrowing from?
Our future selves.
(6/8/26)
I am living on
Borrow time
Everything I ever wanted
God already gave to me
More health
I already asked in my prayer
For God to give me
More health
God also had given me
Lots of peace in my life
Also God had given me the
Gift of health
Also God put the Winter to sleep
And brought me the spring
I am very happy about that
How long do you think
you can ride the coattails
of blissful ignorance?
Isn't it flagrantly obvious that
you are skating on thin ice...
and equally evident that
you're living on borrowed time?
How long do you think
you can get away with avoiding
the elephant in the room?
Have I been the unjaded enabler
whilst my silence should have screamed
to you louder than any multitude of decibels?
AP: Honorable Mention 2025, Honorable Mention 2025
Time has no wings
But it flies faster than bald eagles and fast jets
Time has no rings
But it is engaged or bound to ‘no safety nets’
And married with death.
We are all migrants in the depth
Of the valleys. We are passing by
Like the wind. No matter how hard we try
We will have to go
Like an unwanted cargo.
Time is nobody’s enemy
Be smart to lend a hand
To a stranger, for no real friend
Exists in this messy quagmire
Where everything is strange and dire.
We really own nothing
We are all living on borrowed time
We shall pay for the crime
Remember that we own nothing
Yet we keep on fantasizing and dreaming.
Time, which is not an enemy
Owns everything under the sun
And everything under the blue moon
FYI: Nobody has returned from Heaven
Not even the wisest angel of the deep blue Sea.
Copyright © April 2025, Hébert Logerie, All rights reserved.
Hébert Logerie is the author of several collections of poems.
We're living on borrowed time.
Now I have nothing left.
If you could salvage my soul, would you sacrifice this life to not die alone?
I can see through all the lies
You attempt to commit a wicked crime.
You are trying to commit spirit theft.
My soul is my own.
There is no compromise.
You give me this feeling that love has no limits.
I'm already loved, I'm already chosen.
Dancing with darkness.
But they're prettier in the light.
This will take minutes
As I am just a no one.
So leave my carcass.
Don't go into the sunlight
He was a friend of mine
Was living on borrowed time
He had nothing left to give alas
Had nothing left to do but pass
And he was a friend of mine
He never had use for a wife
Craved for himself a better life
Never travelled too far from home
Never feared death or the unknown
And he was a friend of mine
He always had a tale to tell
I heard ‘em all and know ‘em well
Forty years we were close he and I
Forty years I watched him slowly die
And he was a friend of mine
He never hurt a living soul
Never found peace in this world
Loved a beer and a rollie cigarette
Loved the mates he made and met
And he was a friend of mine
He drank now it’s too late
Was the master of his own fate
His sorrows died with him that day
His living demons all cast away
And he was a friend of mine
I didn’t get to say goodbye
I didn’t know the end was nigh
Got the news from his hospital bed
Closed his eyes ‘til he was dead
And he was a friend of mine
Written: November 2023
The sun is shining, the sky bright cerulean sea
And I am writing a letter…a letter to my future me.
The pandemic is over, so it’s time to pack up for a trip
Hey, Milt, no time to be giving yourself any pouty lip
Because you are living on borrowed time, you see,
Approaching the mid-eighties, not much time left for me.
I guess you are remembering the last ten years or so
Some wonderful times if you recall, not many more to go
You are still lonely since our wonderful Deborah died,
But you have cultivated friendships, O yes, really tried.
It’s good that you are still in your own home and thriving
I see you are not as productive now, but you are striving
I also see you have lost some of the lilt in your stride,
But, time hasn’t diminished your ever present self-pride
Slow down now, my future self, and let me catch up
I must deal with this most recent arthritic flareup
So, I’ll close this short letter and put it in the mail
Hope it gets to you soon, next time I’ll add more detail.
Cordially, Milt
SECOND PLACE WINNER
written September 19, 2021
especially for "Letter to Your Future Self" Contest
sponsored by Silent One
When you take your life and die
It is everyone you love who has to ask why
Your story is over
But they'll keep seeking closure
Here today but gone tomorrow
It's truly tragic and life's great sorrow
Tomorrow is not a given any day
And we live with that when you're ripped away
To lose you like this is to lose part of who we are
You die but we continue to live with the scar
Happy memories suddenly bring tears to our eyes
And every time you claimed to be happy it was all lies
We would have come at the drop of a dime
Never knowing we were living on borrowed time
No matter how you felt we loved you
No matter the trials we've been through
And "you" is anyone reading this
So never feel like you won't be missed
And your story doesn't have to be over
If we can come together and find closure
Our love is living on borrowed time
In fact, we are all living on borrowed time
Time gets shorter
Time's a transporter
Childhood to adulthood your life and mine
Too sudden....."
Born today ,gone tomorrow!
Its life's everyday hym,
For time is never ours to keep,
Yet we hope for the sun to shine tomorrow,
As we shut our eyes,we die in faith,
Life moves at a swift pace.
You can never love enough!
You can never laugh enough!
You can never cry enough!
For todays 's memento is alreday gone by,
As the sun set ,stars will shine,
Yet we forget the moon.
Appreciate the raindrops that fall on your face,
Little but effective,for every second matters,
It is not in our hands the time we claim to have,
No man understands,
Only he the Time keeper.
Let's cherish our loved ones whilst our eyes still see them,
Let turn the invisible,visible,
For love will keep us together,
We unite only to be apart,
For we are living on borrowed time.
Born today ,gone tomorrow!
homeless hopelessly lost and adrift
not belonging and living on borrowed time
a stray in god's land
Wordku: 5-7-5 words
AP: Honorable Mention 2025
He wore a smile like
It was the only thing he owned
No one would ever guess
He was living on borrowed time
As if knowing it was what fueled him
Giving him the impetus to carry on
Sharing music was his dream
And kindling friendships his joy
He gave the best ever he could
Till the very day he died
A model of inspiration to us
And shining tribute to life itself
AP: Honorable Mention 2020
Living on Tulsa Time
Oops Borrowed Time
Written: by Tom Wright
4/25/2018
As my body infrastructure has begun to crumble,
Time has slowed my steps and I’ve began to stumble.
Body parts have become worn and some were replaced,
And I must rely on memory when my past is retraced.
I’ve lived an active life and for that I now am paying,
Practically everything hurts which is quite dismaying.
It seems most of my body parts are in need of mending,
But, as a fighter I won’t quit, I’ll continue until my ending.
I’ve lived a blessed life, and deem myself, being endowed,
My invested life years are more than God ever vowed.*
* Psalm 90:10 K.J.V.
The days of our years are threescore years and ten;
Times ticking, no-ones watching
We are living on borrowed time
Places to go, people to see
Yet never seem to have time.
Plenty to do, what awful crime
Can't seem to balance time
Times ticking, no-ones watching
Heaven awaiting, angels humming
The gate keeper is coming.
Must learn to cherish time
Got to be humble and kind
Can't waste any more time
Be grateful for every moment in time.
Borrowed Time
Tom
5/17/2018
November 15th 2016, spinal stenosis surgery left me not at my best,
On December 27th, during Open Heart Surgery, they cracked my chest.
And three days later on January 1st I experienced Sudden Cardiac Arrest,
God gave me a near death experience, which became my ultimate test.
Had I been in a conscious state I couldn’t have expected
To recover from Sudden Cardiac Arrest just three days after open heart surgery and 1-1/2 months after spinal stenosis surgery. But God knows I’m a fighter and since I have, I envision myself as living on borrowed time. Each morning I feel blessed to have another day while trying not looking beyond it as far as life on earth is concerned. I try to forget the inconvenience that my current situation finds me in and my other ailments that time has bequeathed to me that hinder my ability to do much. God promises three score and ten and has lent me nine more and I continue to count.
Tom
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