In Greece the concept of time
is understood qualitatively and quantitatively:
kairos, the propitious moment for decision or action
coexists with chronos, the sequential measure of life.
Think of all the things we say we do to time:
save it, lose it, waste it, spend it, buy it, kill it
while living like victims to these verbs
we fail to command. Maybe free time
is as much an oxymoron as
jumbo shrimp, debt service
or amicable divorce.
Perhaps the present is the nodal moment
that makes the past and future intelligible?
But when a memory burns like a cheap cigarette
or we ride high on a vision of what's to come
past and future quickly trespass over present's terrain.
Maybe the present is simply a mirror
reflecting a climate of senses —
hearing paint crack in summer heat
the smell of rain on dry soil
watching a day shed light
before descending into mauve
feeling limbs embroiled in the aegean sea
tasting the salt it leaves behind on your skin
—a finite sequence of moments
where the value of time is merely attention.
So, if tomorrow morning,
you choose to lift both arms to greet the sun
feel its tonic warmth on your open palms
you will, for a moment,
have time on your hands.
Comments