GONE TIMES
2/6/2025
I wake up with a yawn, watching the light over the hills
Push the dark away, and pull a curtain over the stars
Seconds, hopscotching around the face of the clock
Remind us that another day is here, time to do the chores
Just ten more minutes, please? Pulling the covers over my head
I think of all the gone times. The times of growing
The teenage years, when only the girl next door
Who smiled at every encounter, mattered.
The college years and being a medic in the Air Force
Took a big chunk, adding more to gone times.
But what is time, I wonder? The earth turns, day to night
Then turns again. It’s been doing so for eons
I bet the world, animals and plants don’t keep time.
Now, seems irrelevant compared to all other times
To where I’ve been. People I loved, those who loved me back
And others.
The clock demands I should get up
Just two minutes more. It’s the morning of another day
Like the many mornings I spent getting up around the world.
I’ve been awakened by the sound of traffic, sirens, war, prayers
In many languages and church bells.
Even the Big Ben’s vibrating echoes over
The smoke covered brown houses of London added pages
To Gone Times Journal. But even then, gone times were better.
Now the merry-go-round of history announces turbulence ahead
And all I can think about are gone times.
Getup!
I am coming!
Reza Ghadimi
