A Poem: Time’s Passage

If we had a true understanding of time

would we have one foot in
and one foot witnessing,

how in a future tense
we might find ourselves dreaming

of the solidity
of the here and now.

If we had a true understanding

would we do our best to stop
time’s momentum,

would we set ourselves,
a foot each against the wheels

of the machine
that turns the years.

And would we ask the man

behind the projections
to keep for us the golden slides,

and would we find ourselves
scrambling upon the floor

for the scenes we want
replayed.

If we had a true understanding

would people wonder
why our kiss is a little bit longer

and our hold a thing
which says a fraction more

than necessary,
or that the moment, when lived, entailed.

Ana Lisa de Jong
Living Tree Poetry
March 2020