Wednesday, April 22, 2015

This is Where I Am in Time



This is where I am in time
I think as I glance at the
Calendar on my wall
A block for today on the page
For this month, this year, this lifetime:
Here I am

Yesterday I had been traveling 
Around and about
Finding my way on a map
Looking ahead to each
Place I would visit
Before my ending destination: home
Where I am now

So I thought as I looked
Curiously at this calendar
That this too was a map
Of time, my time, my place in time:
Here I am
Here and now
For just one moment
Then on to the next now and the next

Though I still meander around and about
In my memory, my history, gathering
Stories and images and vintage beauties
These souvenirs I bring along
Still, I cannot go back in time
I only move forward
With the wisdom I hope I have gleaned
Into a future unseen

This is where I am in time
I am here and I am now
On my journey day by day by day
Toward home
~*~*~

Last Friday and Saturday I went to a church ladies retreat in a quaint little historic town. I walked with a new friend and fellow poet, Debbie Burton, and we were talking about fresh inspiration. I told her that I don't make myself write poetry. I wait until an idea comes and grabs me.

Afterward, I wandered around and looked at the art and vintage stores before heading home. Quite exhausted, I fell into bed early, fully clothed, then woke up again in the wee hours. I snapped on the light and there by my bed was the calendar.

And these words started tumbling in my brain. Or, as I said before, the idea came and grabbed me. So I got up and wrote, first scribbling on the back of scrap paper, then typing in my computer. Then I went back to bed. I woke up and, mind a bit fresher, worked on it a little more. And the day marched on.

Here it is Wednesday afternoon, three days and how many moments passed? Sleeping, eating, cleaning, driving, teaching, dreaming, scheming, cooking, shopping, reading, writing, playing, gazing, smirking, smiling, consulting, consoling, arguing, sighing, twiddling, fiddling...

This is where I am in time.

Virginia Knowles


P.S. #1: This poem reminds me of the song "Tick Tock" by Chris Rice.




P.S. #2: This is not my only poem that talks about the passage of time and life as a journey. Here are some others:

Or, if you would like to see a whole PDF book of my poems and essays, you can click here: Pilgrimage and Jubilee: My First Fifty-Ish Years in Poetry, Prose, and Pictures

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