Later-Nows

Later is a distraction.
Now is the only fire.

Yet I keep leaning forward,
watching the future form,
wondering what must be done today
to make tomorrow
arrive obedient.

So I fill this moment
with later-nows.

Like a child waiting
for Daddy to come home,
counting the air
before the spanking lands.

Can time be bent?
Can I skip ahead
past the hurt?
Can I crawl backward
and unmake the cause?

No.
The process is the path,
and the path answers
to no one.

Once you leap,
your parachute either opens
or it doesn’t.
You can prepare.
You can pray.
But you cannot negotiate
with gravity.

Plans may guide the hand.
Control is still a dream.

Now is now.
Later is hope.

So I hope.
I work.
I bless each step
as if it were the last one given.

And then—
I jump.

Written by Blackulah on June 13, 2007 - 11:35pm

IMMORTALITY