*

Shifting Shades

the sound of time passing

I hear it as surely as I hear

the low hum of traffic

that ebbing flow of humanity

still dancing to stoplight rhythms

I hear time slipping

like unspent coins through a child’s

sweaty fingers...

I hear it drift away on cooling coffee steam...

the sound of time passing blurs ticking-clock-hands -

- digital just doesn’t tell time

 correctly...

... no tic-tic-tic marking hours

that fall silent in the hourglass...

... lost minutes

scattered and strewn and almost forgotten

litter life’s pathway like stars molested from the sky...

Is all innocence lost too, in the annals of time?

Time dulls some urges... desiccates dreams

wearies the heart and withers the spirit ... if you let it...

*

Time shifting ... echoes in seasonal shades

flowers bloom, shine, wilt with age

moon and sun share a changing panorama

as Spring see’s Winter in its grave...

old man oak spreads his roots

holding arms out wide

shivers with delight at the soft spring rain

and turns his head to the sky...

the sound of time passing

I hear it as surely as I hear

each year slide into the next

new taking over from old

I hear it as clearly as the beating

of my own inner ache  –

- and wonder, have I left it too late.

*

Sharonlee©20-Nov-12