Tag Archives: time

Lifetime

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Your life is precious,
so spend your moments wisely.
Tick-tock, oops, they’re gone!

“Time is the school in which we learn, Time is the fire in which we burn” are the profound last lines of the poem, Calmly We Walk through This April’s Day, by Delmore Schwartz. It’s a beautiful philosophical ponderation on the passage of time, with a particularly great wrap-up last stanza.

The seconds, minutes, hours tick away relentlessly. Our lives are busy, and inundated with many distractions and responsibilities. Lately I’m looking at my age and the years that have passed, and thinking, “Wow! It’s going faster than I ever could have imagined when I was 18.”

Realistically, we don’t have time to sit around and ponder endlessly about the value of time and our lives. But, it’s useful to carve out a little time (from time to time) for such introspection. Because your life IS precious, and the clock IS ticking. Ask yourself in this moment, are you spending it the way you would really like to? In reply to that, I will close with my poem Tick-tock Madman:

Tick-tock Madman

That round evil man
with his shallow pretty face
leers from my wall.
Cruelly and incessantly,
he chips away at my life
with his sharp little pick-axe.

Tick-tock, tick-tock.

My days mete out
in an endless dribble of
tasks and responsibilities,
and he watches me.
Be on time, get it right!
Get up again, do it again.
and again, and again, and again.

Tick-tock, tick-tock.

I thought he was my friend
that insidious little man,
Mom said he was!
Just dress for success,
always be on time,
and your life will be right.

Tick-tock, tick-tock.

Then one day I woke up
and my life felt all wrong.
Where are my dreams
you cunning little man?
You stole them while
I toiled to your

Tick-tock, tick-tock.

Oh poacher of my hours!
Is there time for me?
Still hope for me?
The Me you took while
I played by the rules,
always obeying time.

And that smug little man
with his false pretty face
just stares coldly at me
from his unfeeling wall.
Silent he is, but for
the relentless

Tick-tock, tick-tock.

Lifetime is from Hart Haiku Vol. 1 / Tick-tock Madman is from Soul Journey: The Poetry of Life

Time of Our Lives

5 Replies

“Time is the school in which we learn, Time is the fire in which we burn.” are the profound last lines of the poem, Calmly We Walk through This April’s Day, by Delmore Schwartz. It’s a beautiful philosophical contemplation of the passage of time, with a particularly great wrap-up last stanza.

The seconds, minutes, hours tick away relentlessly. Our lives are busy, and inundated with many distractions and responsibilities. Lately I’m looking at my age and thinking, “Wow! It’s going faster than I ever imagined at age 18.”

Realistically, we don’t have time to sit around and endlessly ponder about the value of time and our lives. But, it’s useful to carve out a little time (from time to time) for such introspection. Because your life IS precious, and the clock IS ticking. Ask yourself in this moment, are you spending your life the way you really desire to?

It is crucially important to have vision and intention for our lives. Otherwise, we will just end up with someone else’s idea of how life should be.

Inspirational Time Quotes:

“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” ~ J.R.R. Tolkien

“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.” ~ Mark Twain

“Each day means a new twenty-four hours. Each day means everything’s possible again. You live in the moment, you die in the moment, you take it all one day at a time.” ~ Marie Lu

“Don’t waste your time in anger, regrets, worries, and grudges. Life is too short to be unhappy.” ~ Roy T. Bennett

“All endings are also beginnings. We just don’t know it at the time.” ~ Mitch Albom

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