Time

TIME

Somehow there isn’t time enough
Not for me, not for you
There isn’t enough time in the morning
To share
Or to glimpse one fleeting look at you
As you lie dreaming
Angel-like
In my bed, your soft hair
Spread like a seductive web
Across the pillow.
There you lie
A child in woman’s garb
A woman with a child’s innocence
Upon your face.
But I haven’t the time
To look, to see. 
I rush to my work
Sirens and bells and pulses
Ringing, racing, screaming
Around me, through me.
Work for there isn’t time
To care, to breathe, to be human
No time, no time, no time.
Mountains of paper, hills of trash
Written reports filed, forgotten
Man’s monument to man—
Mountains of paper shredded in a garbage dump.
No time to read, no time to think
No time to write, no time to care.
Push, push, push.
Sirens wail, pulsing lights of red
All jump to the enslaved human heart—
Enslaved for thirty pieces of silver.
Where does the machine end
And the man begin?
What a lovely couple they make—
Man and machine.
What God hat joined together
Let no man split asunder
Married.
After all these years.
One partner now resembles
The other.

Now home to the peace
Of love and rest.
But no time to rest.
No time to love.
Eat, rush, television on.
Wash dishes—clatter! clash! clang!
No time to see you
No time to touch your hand.
No time to be alive
To see and breathe and feel
For ourselves.
No time for love
We go to bed.
Squirt, squirt, love.
I love you
Where are my sleeping pills?
The perfect marriage
Man and machine.
Years flow by in the endless stream.
No time to dream, no time to hope
No time for love.
And the mother earth
Welcomes you home
Into her gaping mouth
Dust to dust, ashes to ashes
May God have mercy on your soul. 
Tee off.  Driver please.
Goodbye my love.
No time to cry.
I’m sorry you’re gone
I miss you so.
I’ll bet I could have loved you
But there never was the time,
My wife. 
No time to love, no time to lose
No time to mourn
No time to laugh
I’m so sorry my dear
Wish you were here
If  I’d only known
How precious you were to me
I’d have found the time
Made the time.
Time
Time
Time.