Looking Timely

Cloud shadow quickly flees
Slipping through my fingers
Past, present, and future
Anguish and bliss pass away

The End of Summer scavenger hunt prompt #5 is to write a Naani on the topic of time. The Naani is a poem form from India. It is syllabic written in 4 lines with a total of 20 -25 syllables total. Like the Haiku it doesn’t rhyme. The poem is not bound to any specific subject but usually depicts human relations and current events. I chose a syllable count of 6/6/6/7 for my lines for a total of 25 syllables.

Time is a slippery thing. No sooner than we grab hold of now, it becomes then. As hard as we strain to reach the future, it is always a nanosecond beyond our fingers. As we reach, it slides into our touch to become the present and sublimes instantly to become the past. The problem with time is that humans have the capability to remember what just was and to long for what may be. That means we are constantly dragging the past into our present via nostalgia and persistent reminiscence. We also hope and anticipate a future formed by wishes and dreams. I am not saying that those abilities are undesirable, on the contrary those traits have built civilizations. On the individual level however if one lives in the past or in dreams of the future alone, the present living is neglected. That neglect robs the person of any new memories and the dreams will remain unobtainable. We find the person in a state of suspended animation – neither living nor dead and just as separated from the rest of the world. The best is to relish this moment. Remember the string of memories and wear them like a beautiful necklace. Place the dreams like flowers in your hair where you can smell their sweet perfume even as you live in this very instant.