Rick McCawley
“Time” by Rick McCawley. From the /imagine Podcast series!
“Time” by Rick McCawley.
Time, oh time, I knew you well,
A passing, fleeting thought that's gone, farewell.
Time, oh time, you are so precious,
In the smile of a baby, the touch of a face, the warm embrace of a lover.
Over time, I spend you foolishly,
But I also embrace you with all my heart.
I wait for the next time I can feel that feeling that fills us all.
Time is so finite, so final, so ending.
I forgot the beginning, and I dread the end.
But I will spend you wisely on art and love and music,
And on filling my soul.
I will spend you on other people's pleasure and fantasy,
And on pursuing my magic, my bliss, my goals.
I will spend you wisely, in pacing, enjoying, and lingering.
But perhaps the thing I like the most is to spend you on art,
That fills my soul.
I gather up my humanity, my life, my treasure, my loves, my experiences,
And I put them in my works of art.
So, time, when I grab a camera and capture those fleeting moments as they pass us by,
When I prompt and craft an image into existence from the AI,
What am I doing?
I am summing it up.
I am summing up my existence.
I am crying, I am laughing, I am smiling,
And I am making others realize that in the small, tiniest, insignificant moments of time,
I can find beauty, my heart and soul, my humanity.
I could share my thoughts, I could extend my time, I could become immortal.
But in having experiences that all add up,
I spend you with thought and craft and care,
To do you justice in expressing, I set you still.
Art is the wisest spending of time I can imagine.
It is to remember myself, remember my life, my children,
Remember why we exist, in joyfully dancing,
Without wasting away any time.
So now I sit here and ponder alone, my times, my times to come,
And I wait for the moments to share with another,
The time I have left, until we don't.
Thank you, time, you precious gift.
I can start and stop with a camera click.
Thank you, time, for waiting patiently for me to find the meaning in all of this.
Thank you, time.
I hope you always exist in precious moments, in love, in the moments with others,
In memory and legacy, as I pass this torch on to all the others.
Thank you, time, time and time again.
