In No Time

Oh, I wish I could share
The wisdom of my heart
The knowing I have finally found
But in no time it can vanish

Leaving me bereft.

My thoughts are loosening
Loosing their importance and
I am loosing mind
And matter 

which once was so important 

no longer is

Oh, both time and words
Have meaning still
And it is still the thought
That counts

It's just that to my surprise 

My priorities have shifted 

once again
Here in the land of
No Time
Where my thoughts
Silently drift away

Here where I cannot remember 
Where only Now 
Resides

There is a freedom

In forgetting 

A warmth in letting go

Funny, how at one time
Time and words
And meanings
Once ruled my life

Now, time and words
And meaning
Drift quietly
Through my mind

Silent, heartfelt words
Felt
Then flee
What need of them to stay

What need of me to say them

I have tried to leave nothing 

left unsaid 

My "I love yous" pour from me 

like water from a fountain

in the center of the village courtyard 

where we gather to greet 

and meet and leave again

I have grown here

I have become old here 

I have laughed and wept and loved here

And my heart is filled with Joy when I watch the children play

Once I thought I would become

a shaman or a wrinkled crone 

full of wit & wisdom

 

Instead I find 

I am but a babe 

In a new woods
Where time has flown and my stories seem to have a life of their own

Here inside this ever changing world, I wait, mostly patiently, 

In my new home, the present 

And although I still travel 

back and forth in time

I have made a discovery here 

Here on the page and in this present moment and found 

some measure of contentment in my minutes And my hours 

And my days

And some humor or a bit of irony 

I smile and laugh often

I talk to myself and inanimate objects, an occasional apology for bumping into something 

I did not see

"Time waits for no one" 

Sometimes I have no idea 

what that means

But

What I do know is I can cry and laugh at the same time and even allow myself to weep 

and writing is a way to pray and that divine timing does exist and today I will be okay


Pattra Burnetto Monroe
June 2016 (revised March 2023)