Originally published on November 18, 2010 on the now-defunct Best American Poetry blog. Republished in The Trouble Clef.
VARIATIONS ON THE THEME OF TIME
I.
Time
with time
shrinks
in size,
worsens
in quality.
I search
memories,
trying
to remember
one
perfect
moment
from childhood
when past
was still
my future.
II.
Time exits,
tip-toeing.
I stand
alone
in this empty
room,
erasing
my past,
harvesting
the words,
burning them
in the silence
of music.
All that I own
has turned
into ashes.
I open the door
and breathe in
cold air.
III.
Time
in places
becomes
so thin,
you can see
through its
fading material.
You see
the dim valleys,
You see
strange shapes
shifting,
changing,
blending.
Time
with time
loses
its colors –
the ancient
pyramids
are now
all-gray.
Time likes
gray-ness,
it can rest
for a while,
it can cuddle
in a cradle
of forever
beyond.
Time
also
gets
tired
sometimes.
In its sleep
Time hears
the gray
clouds
sing.
[by Lera Auerbach]
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