Poem: Timescales

[Skycat]

Timescales


Is the idea of the future
Merely a device
For filling in the present?

We stand in the wooded dell
Waiting for the cloudburst

Is the present a process
Of crumbling
Into the past?

The walls and windows,
The weathered roof,
Collapse under the weight
Of the world's condemnation

The function
Of an organic object
Comes to an end.

Remnants of malnutritioned bodies
Lying peacefully
On top of each other

We call the process decay
The future a framework.
Scaffolding for act determination.
Movement.

History clothes us
With clumps
Of prehistoric clay

So that the leprosy
Of the present
May become the detritus
Of what is past.

 

[Wabbit]

Good stuff, thanks

Very very interesting!

Regards
SillyWabbit

 

[kskyhappy]

interesting subject. i would argue perhaps, that the present is not a process, as to be the ever present it is not subject to time, if it were it would be the past or future. Therefore leprosy is not subject to the present, neither is decay, as the present is a moment suspended in time.

in that respect i find the poem a little disheartening, as it shows a present full of apprehension and a past full of remorse, maybe that is the point. however i would like to think that the idea of the future is a promise of hope, a friend not yet made, a mark yet to be made.

the organic question is good. is the future crumbling into dust? what about rebirth? due to it's impermanence the organic must pass on its knowledge in the larger present or be lost to the past, it does this by consuming the past in the form of the future - we are all star stuff, we began in a spark, a spark can only exist in the present, its future expands and it's past is dormant.

see good poem, you got me thinking nonsense!

lol

kskyhappy

 

[Wabbit]

If I may counter lol

I present is indeed a process because it is NOT something static. It's just an illusion. If it was static there would be no time at all. So, it's moving and we experiance it as it moves.

... I think lol

Regards
SillyWabbit

 

[Stewart]

The present is a static time period, the past and present are the variables as the past grows and the future shrinks. The only thing you can compare to the present is Godliness as, to us, He is outside of time - a dimension we cannot comprehend.

That which is within the present can change but its defining brackets remain unaltered. Consider this: ><

All to the left of this (>) is the past, all to the right of this (<) is the future. Therefore the present is only that point where both apexes meet. A dot.

 

[Martin]

My head hurts.

Cheers, Martin

 

[Wabbit]

The present is a static time period, the past and present are the variables as the past grows and the future shrinks. The only thing you can compare to the present is Godliness as, to us, He is outside of time - a dimension we cannot comprehend.

That which is within the present can change but its defining brackets remain unaltered. Consider this: ><

All to the left of this (>) is the past, all to the right of this (<) is the future. Therefore the present is only that point where both apexes meet. A dot.

I don't agree but just can't be bothered to argue

Regards
SillyWabbit

 

[bobbyburns]

nice piece, skycat.