Time's Always Now On A Lone Island Poem by Aniruddha Pathak

Time's always now on a lone island

Imagine on a lone remote island,
In the lap of wilderness and nowhere,
An island no one ever set foot ere,
And there a sole ship-wracked soul has to land.

Washed ashore by stormy tidal sea waves,
Injured and unconscious for unknown long,
Nature sings and sings an endless long song,
If it chooses to assail, also saves.

Lord, where am I? What time is it?
How long since I was hit?
Time seems one thing no man would ever beat,
From space and time there can be no retreat.

But lands lost in space have no use for time—
A time that has future, nor past,
Nor has a reason to be, nor yet rhyme,
Day-nights come and go just as cast.

And time's meaningfulness is invented—
By, who else, but man ruled by mind,
Whose true self, immune from death bed,
Plays witness as soul from behind.

So, birds, beasts and trees were bemused
By this query on time so posed,
Time as a tool this land had never used,
The question never ere arose.

But what if they had to respond somehow?
In a land that lived moment to moment,
Present was the sole thing present,
And would have said: what else, time's always now!
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Musings | 03.04.14 |