‘On Time’ and Other Poems by Kevin Ahern

On Time

I went to bed too late last night
And woke up to an awful fright
But now it’s done, what can I say?
Tomorrow turned into today

They say time flies, you never know
About the days, where do they go?
A penny in your pocket, say
Keep it, spend it, that’s OK

But time displayed upon your clock
Is not an item you can stock
It can’t be captured, stored away
Or used to add another day

It just slips forward, always runs
Quantized by the setting suns
Stopping for no one, people say
And when it goes, it’s gone away

There’s Father Time and Mother Goose
One’s for kids and one’s a noose
New Year’s baby, Old Man Time
Champagne maybe, aging wine

You can take a sec or spend a minute
Lose it in spring and in fall re-win it
The clock is ticking all the time
Tick tock talking on your dime

You can make good time inside your car
Or spend some time to learn guitar
If it’s on your side, you may go far

___Or not

You can have it on your hands
_But never on your our feet
It may fly by on the weekends, but
_Be dragging in the week
Time is money, so they say
_But isn’t it a crime

That money comes and goes away
_But never turns to time?
And in good time, we all will die
As all the days go passing by
But no one has the answer why
_Time keeps marching on
Yes, we can die before our time
_But never after it, you see
It can be a most untimely thing
But timely death will never be
The sands of time make silent chorus
In the hourglass before us
Slipping, sliding, marching fast
Turning present into past
Just one more thing, before I go
_To end this longish shout
I need to bum some change, you know
_My meter’s running out

As the World Turns

Bella sweeps
The concrete space
Where people pass
Her store-front face

Every morning
It’s the same
A spotless sidewalk
Is her aim

Beyond her broom,
The world declines
The middle class
Slips downs the lines

Soldiers march
Drones fire shots
Existing social
Structure rots

Chaos is
The new routine
But Bella’s store-front’s
Very clean

Hypnosis

Asleep is awake
False is true
Endangered is safe
Old is new

Naked is clothed
Wealthy is poor
Loved is loathed
Less is more

Guilty is innocent
Pollution is green
Music is dissonant
Life is obscene

Harming is helping
Shapeless is form
Freezing is melting
Hatreds are norm

Winning is losing
Cheating is fair
Simple’s confusing
Abandonment’s care

Hotness is cold
Blackness is white
Timid is bold
Wrong’s the new right

Friends are enemies
Enemies are friends
Dollars are pennies
The beginning’s the end

Kevin Ahern is a Professor Emeritus of biochemistry from Oregon State University who is enjoying the spare time he has gained in retirement to write verses, limericks, and other creative items.