The Trembling Informant

It’s 30 odd months with this trembling disease.

There goes my daydreams of retirement ease.

An idea that I’ve heard, that some people say:

Time’s fleeting; have fun, and live for to-day.

 

With this feeble wisdom the poets seem to agree:

Life’s short; don’t tarry, live fast, loose and free.

From Marvell’s winged chariot to Auden’s rude glacier,

It’s Time that’s pursing ‘til death’s final erasure.

 

While tempus is fugit, they carpe the diem.

They live for the moment; embrace every whim.

But the contentment of Bacchus is never complete.

The more food they give him, the more he will eat.

 

The carnival horses spring non-comprehending

Its noisy and circular chase never-ending.

Are we, like the horse, in a race with no purpose,

Attending a meaningless three-ringed circus?

 

I know that there’s more, but I’ll tell you in fairness,

This palsy of shaking gives me heightened awareness,

Of the meaning of things; what’s really important.

Of the truth underlying, I’m your trembling informant.

 

It’s clear to me now how misguided our thinking.

Let’s consider more fully, and look without blinking.

We’ve cast our net broadly but the catch is nearby.

Are you ready to hear it and truth rectify?

 

* * *

 

It’s not time that matters, it’s with whom you spend it.

Care not for the pond but the fish that swim in it.

Here’s the great Truth, served on silver platter:

It’s family, it’s friends, it’s loved ones that matter.

 

To all the people you hold in your heart,

Tell ’em you love them; today you should start.

In love’s sacred currency to them you should pay.

And balance life’s journal each loving day;

 

To brother and sister and daughter and son,

Tell ‘em you love ‘em, tell every-one.

Tell all your true feelings; leave nothing unsaid.

For tomorrow dear reader, you might wake up dead.

 

 

 

Photo by Ian Taylor on Unsplash