Chronological Paradox

Conditioned by optimism,

we look on Time

as a forward progression.

“The march of time,”

“Here today, gone tomorrow,”

and other aphorisms

sprinkle our languages,

offering folksy wisdom

to guide our lives.

Yet as we age,

and friends, relatives, current events,

calamities, and catastrophes,

march inexorably into a past

that regresses at a logarithmic speed

away from our static present,

we are confronted daily

by Time’s ultimate paradox:

we sprinkle away our grains of time

frivolously, reflecting on yesterday,

fretting about tomorrow,

when all we need,

all that we are, and,
ultimately,
all we really have

is Now.