Time

Time

We are approaching another milestone 

One more year since you went from us

There are days you are closer than ever

And then, there are days you are far away

I can sit, close my eyes, become very still

I allow the images of you to flood my mind

I hear your voice as if you are speaking today

Memories and questions surround me

For you, all time has ceased

You are not growing older 

Everything about you is a memory

Every question already has it’s answer

For me, time is still fluid and alive

Fragments travel past in memories stream

I can catch and hold pieces temporarily 

Before the swift currents of time steal them away

Let’s talk about time

Time is the ultimate taker and giver 

Time tries to destroy all things

What it cannot destroy, it alters completely 

I am not the same as I was thirteen years ago

Not the same man who sat at your bedside

Not the same as the one meeting with the doctors

Not like to one relinquishing hope for reality

I try and succeed at remembering good days

The times we laughed and cried together

The conversations we thought would be endless

The numerous holidays we celebrated 

Always, time brings me back

Always, time makes me know

Always, feeling the immeasurable void

Knowing what I had and have no longer

I know it is time which gives me so much

Time has given me children, grandchildren 

And even recently, a great grandson

None possible without the passing of time

It is the same passage of time

Giving so much, taking so much

Inexorably twisted together

Bound by an unbreakable line

For now, I will struggle to stand still

In the rushing stream of time

To feel your presence around me

To know your heart and mind

To hear your voice and your words

To relive moments, to recapture feelings

To stop it all from slipping away

To never lose you in times rushing 

It is but for the moment

I am tethered to time

I am restrained by its whims

I am a captive within its bounds

Even now 

I can feel the edge of change 

I can feel the destruction

Eroding the periphery 

I cling to you with desperation 

Losing you is losing myself

I refuse to give in to this jailer

I cannot relinquish the memories

Time

You will not destroy this

You will not alter this

I will not give in

So many years, so much change

Situations and circumstances 

New wrinkles, new aches and pains

New loves and new worries

This, still, I will hold 

Just beyond your flow

I will rehearse your stories

I will not give them to time

I close my eyes, I get very still

I sharpen the focus

Thanks for being strong enough

To assuage the ravages of time

Another year

Another day

Another hour

Time

© Ron Simpson Jr. 

February 29, 2020