Time Span Poem by Philippa Lane

Once a world that span,
And spinning took me with it giddily:
Its crazy circumference I shared.
It was a place that pined perplexity,
That sought perception on a plain
Set far apart. Too fast it span
To hold a single memory,
But glimpses were abundant
Along the dizzy ride.

Then, a world that slowing down
Showed contours, colours:
The slackened pace produced proximity,
& sounds and shapes
& heat and cold became apparent.

Time became more lenient:
The pause made tangibility possible.
Starved hearts were fed
And tired bodies given impetus
To carry on to country unexplored.

But Time made no allowance
For pleasure and ran faster and faster,
'Til pulses raced into confusion.

Love lay on the brink of an abyss
& waking became frightened,
But passion, impatient,
Made another move
& all was swallowed up
In the gaping mouth
Of mental death -

Flashes of felicity
Forgotten with the numbness.

Now a world that revolves quite normally:
That is an equilibrium of certainty,
A guarantee of unextrordinary.