THE TIMING

Invited for tea when you prefer coffee, decline.
When a reviewer gives you a zero, accept.
If you wonder when, ask why.

Look to the future.
Draw from the past.
Gather ye rosebuds
While supplies last.
Act now. Act fast. Act
Like nothing happened
While having a blast.

At the time there was no reason to. Now there is at least one.
At last?
Outlast your routine. Then cast off.
Avast?
Avant. Navigate by the stars.
To, eh?
Every day. Is your birthday.
Where’s the victory?
You made it. When many didn’t.
When, then, to move?
Times may vary. Hold on.
Until?
Very late. Hours past waking.

Sit, stare at the screen, get up, walk from one room to another
And from there to another, stare at the mirror, sit back down, feel
The day go like honey sliding off a spoon, a thin layer sticking.

The analog clocks keep ticking,
But each keeps its own time,
As the electronics stay silent,
Mysterious, some with tics.

Morning brings a clear sky and a cloudy head,
The latter like congested sinuses except it’s
Brain cells swollen from yesterday’s conversations,
The introvert’s version of an infection that will
Require stretching out, metaphorically speaking,
Not speaking, especially not listening to speech.

Bells ring, being bells,
Bringing some fresh aspect
To the minutes they tell,
While it’s up to you
To know the tolls.

Let it be you,
Say the bells of St. Self,
Let it not come down
To whom you know
Are under-bridge trolls.

Let it rip on your
Long-range trip.
Enjoy the ride.
You have endured
A long day’s pulling
Nails from a board,
Though that plank
Might just be your
Sometimes stiff side.

Which parts of you will abide?
Are you such stuff as fabled
Wagon trains were made of?

After you revisit a childhood haunt, become a ghost.