The hours

Time is the human medium
         it’s what we live in
what we love in
         what we die in
it is the oxygen
         of our existence
In time the world
         of infinite tomorrows
it is light and it is darkness
         it is the sparrow
beneath the hedge
         it is the falling leaves
that litter the earth below
         the fruit we have consumed
the very future’s future
         it is the phantom of succession
it is here and it is now
          and through this deep ocean
fish swim unnoticed :
         no tree can count its leaves
no sea its population
         : who knows what silence
predated out star
         who knows what came
before before
         ours is the mystery
of aliveness
         ours are the hours

John Lyons