The Marriage Of Before And After Poem by Paul Hartal

The matrimony of Before and After
might appear as an intricate mystery.
This serene and peculiar wedlock
of primordial temporary relationship
between two distinct prepositions
transcends the realm of poetic fancy.

I believe that the idea of time
represents a renovated metaphor,
as an arrow flying in one direction,
from the past to the future
trough the present.

However, the fact is that we live
in the permanent present
and the passage of time
is just a coiling illusion.
Time does not move. It stands still.

Let's bear also in mind
that the hands of the clock
don't really show the progress of time.
Instead, they indicate movement in space;
one metaphor in place of another.

Had time really moved
we could measure
its speed through space
in kilometers, or miles per hour.

But time is motionless
and stubbornly stands still.
It refuses to progress even one inch.
Yet you and I do amble and stride
as we move through time.

Time manifests itself as duration.
Its invisible architecture
allows the unfolding of being
in the non-existent arena
of existence.

And so,
in the cosmic womb
of transcendental reality,
in the unitive hyperspace universe
the couple called Before and After
fuse and unite
and then everything happens
simultaneously.