What is your relationship with time?
As humans:
We make time for what is important.
We take time for what we need.
We mark time.
We spend time.
And sometimes, time spends and marks us, too.
Our lives are created in bursts of peaks and valleys, incandescent light and velvet darkness. When your life span is less than one hundred years, one decade can feel like an age…
But what of the lives of tortoises?
And what of the lives of fruit flies or bats?
And what of the lives of the stars?
Or this planet on which we revolve, light to dark, tilting toward and away from our singular sun?
Time—like life—is full of paradox. It creates and devours, repels and attracts, and perhaps gives birth to something new….Over time.
So, let us pay attention to a small a slice of time:
How do you feel today?
Or this minute?
What did you accomplish this year?
Or this past decade?
What did you enjoy?
What filled you with wonder?
What engulfed you with anger or sorrow?
How did you live your life in this span?
Did you sing?
Did you dance?
Did you weep?
Did you love?
Did you curl up, seeking warmth?
Did you hold someone else’s hand?
Did you show up for justice?
Did you show up with food or water or cash for those in need?
Did you visit the imprisoned?
Did you lay your body down in the streets with resolve?
Did you tangle the sheets in lust or love?
Did you pray, or sit in silence?
Did you shout?
Did you ask for help when you needed it?
Did you grow something?
Make something?
Confront, destroy, or challenge something?
What have you done with your precious, fleeting, time?
Did you let yourself remember:
You are here, in a body, on a planet, in the midst of ancient stars?
Was it worth it?
Is it worth it?
What will you do?
What might you do?
And why?
This is reader funded writing. I thank all of my Patreon supporters for making it possible for me to provide one free essay and short story or poem every month. Most of this writing would not exist without these people. They all rock.
Want to join my Patreon crew? You get advance copies of essays and stories before they hit the web, plus a chance for free books once or so a year.
One thousand blessings to patrons past and present:
Robert, Atheannah, Courtney Rebecca, Hannah, Jessie, Susan, Rash, Jessica, Raymond, Chani, Misha, MJ, Saga, Michael, Joan, Maggie, Cethlenne, Sia, Adrian, Jenya, Jenny, Joanne, Mitchell, Anna, Summer, John, Morgane, Constance, Leanne, Maria, Ambar,Lisa, Kathy, John, Ada, Heather, Tadhg, Michael, Mat, Gary, Valerie, Lira, Kay and Sandi, Charlie, Nessa, Kirsten, Sophia, Leigh, Joanna, Constance, Amerwitch, Elizabeth, Michael, Alex, John, Rebecca, Steve, Sea, Samantha, Irisanya, Autumn Lily, Lorelei, Wendy, Hollis, Sister Krissy, Vanessa, Maddy,Carlin, Anon, Bear, Doneby, Dayle, Devotaj, Will, Brooks, Law Nerd, Michelle, Gwynne, Mark, Merri Ann, Meagan, Veronica, Shira, Allyson, Jocelyne, Michael, Dawn, Joanna, Lia, Rachel, Kiya, Corinne, Evodjie, Angela, Zann, Daniel, Luna, Christopher, Sarah, Amerwitch, Elizabeth, Michael, Alex, John, Rebecca, Steve, Sea, Samantha, Irisanya, Autumn Lily, Lorelei, Wendy, Hollis, Sister Krissy, Vanessa, Maddy, Carlin, Anon, Bear, Doneby, Dayle, Devotaj, Will, Brooks, Law Nerd, Michelle, Gwynne, Mark, Merri Ann, Meagan, Veronica, Shira, Allyson, Jocelyne, Michael, Dawn, Joanna, Lia, Rachel, Kiya, Corinne, Evodjie, Angela, Zann, Daniel, Luna, Christopher, Sarah, Amerwitch, Tamara, Elizabeth, J. Anthony, Sea Serpent, Jen, David, Emilie, Jennifer, Elliot, Ellen, a phoenix, Jersey Meg, Tony, Sean, Sherry, Christopher, Stephanie, Lira, Ariana, Tamara, Karen, Morgaine, Sarah, Rachel, Jenny, Joanna, R.M., Ember, San, Miriam, Leslie, Sharon, Mary Anne, Joanna, Tony, Angela, Constance, Stone, Omorka, Unwoman, Shemandoah, Sarah, Rain, Cid, Alley, Mica, Christine, Vyviane, Katie, Emilie, Louise, Victoria, Greg, Ealasaid, Jennifer, Louise, Rose, Starr, Sinead, Lyssa, Aeptha, Cara, Crystal, Angela, Misha, Eridanus, Cheryl, Lori, Soli, Peter, Angela, Ambariel, Sonia, Jennifer, Ruth, Miranda, Jeremy, Jonah, Michelle, Jenny, Jen, Mir, Ruth, Emilie, Jonathan, Kate, Roger and Nancy.
Comments