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.
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.
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.
Sometimes a little push helps. 😀 Thanks for joining in.
Time cannot reverse.. that is one of the few things I know.
The Guardian of Time has been very generous to us humans from what I can see, but we’d better get our acts together!
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.” 💝💝
My first draft had it as “in the continuum of time & space” but I thought it was too awkward/cliche.
Time is valuable and we must not squander it. Words of wisdom!
The rhythm and flow of your words work well with the wheel imagery here! So much truth in your verses! 💕
A strong message here, Ron, and I liked how you examined the way time can seem to fly by or drag, but it can never go backwards!
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.
Good advice! (K)
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.
A great take on the Art Piece! I love the imagination you put into this one!
Let’s not squander.