Time Scheme
by Ken Sanes
Faced with the prospect of
certain death,
we keep looking for ways to overcome time.
One popular way is the play of rhyme,
which repeats an earlier sound,
evoking a sense that the past is alive
and that past and present are somehow bound.
But despite efforts like this to convince ourselves
that we can live on even after we are gone,
the truth about life is that it passes like a dream
and can’t be salvaged by this
or any other symbolic scheme.
So don’t forget we have a few precious hours
that won’t be prolonged by a comforting rhyme.
Whether it is cloaked or comes bearing flowers,
each of us has a date with time.