IN THE TIME OF
By John Leonard
In the time of a heart-beat,
In the time of a day lived,
In the time of a moment’s thought,
In the time of old age creeping
through a mind and body,
In the time of a cloud passing,
In the time of the moon riding in the sky,
In the time of soil creeping downhill,
In the time of a flood washing
in muddy sheets down the slope,
In the time of a poem’s measured phrases,
In the time of a poem remembered afterwards,
In the time of a whole note in the bar,
In the time of thirty-two thirty-second notes
and their busyness in the bar,
In the time of ants scurrying,
In the time of an ant-lion waiting in its pit,
In the time of the wind drying out grasses,
In the time of the wind scattering seeds
and bringing rain-clouds,
In the time of stories being told,
In the time of stories ramifying,
In the time of law being made,
In the time of law being broken
and made new again,
In the time of the wind, time’s messenger,
In the time of restless thoughts,
In the time of time sweeping away,
In the time of time sweeping back,
carrying away and bringing back,
Published 2010 in the collection Braided Lands