The Guardian of Time (with audio)

At the end of the road
At the end of the world
There’s a place unknown to most of mankind

Where the land falls away
Becoming one with Earth’s core
Stands the house of the Guardian of Time

Outside of his house
Is the water wheel of time
Counting months and years ad infinitum

When the wheel turns
Time marches on
Life goes on as it does every day

As seconds slip away
Hours turn into days
And the river of time keeps on flowing

But this wheel is different
No water to turn it
Just the land and man standing watch

He can stop the wheel
Capture a moment to steal
And everything becomes frozen in time

When time stands still
Life seems so unreal
Providing opportunity to plan your next move

In the blink of an eye
He starts it ticking again
Intervals progress as they once did before

He can make it go faster
He makes it go slower
Making time fly or days drag on forever

At the back of the house
Wasted time slips away
No bridge from which to retrieve it

Squandered time has no place
In this time and space
Because the wheel can never turn backward

He’s the Guardian of Time
Never treat him unkind
You’ve got limited time – use it wisely

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Image credit: Landfall, a surreal photo-composition by Erik Johansson, 2014.

Linked to MindLoveMisery’s Menagerie: Photo Challenge #363

Linked to dVerse Poets Pub Poetics: Build a Bridge, where Merril is hosting and asked us to either write a poem about bridges OR to write a Puente. If not writing a Puente, then it should use some form of the word bridge in the poem or in the title.

Linked to Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie: Tale Weaver 02.12.21 ~ Time.

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See more ekphrastic poetry.

15 thoughts on “The Guardian of Time”

  1. What a folk tale/ballad. Now I know why time seems to go faster or slower sometimes! 😀
    The stanza where you slipped bridge in is one of my favorites.

    1. Ha, you caught me. Yes, I “slipped bridge in” to meet your “minimum requirements”, but I must say, I agree it works quite well there.

  2. I love the sparkling wisdom in this one, Ron 🙂 and resonate with; “Squandered time has no place in this time and space because the wheel can never turn backward.” 💝💝

    1. My first draft had it as “in the continuum of time & space” but I thought it was too awkward/cliche.

    1. I think if there were a “backwards” button on the wheel of time, most of us would be spending half of our life on do-overs.

  3. It makes me think of the phrase “Back to the future”. Time travel fascinates me. They say there is no sense of time beyond the veil; that should be interesting.

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