FACES of TIME

Like the hands of a clock, the planet is turning,
yet unlike time, many say it's burning

from the ashes of the past, we carry on,
ghosts of the past, remembered through song

So Planet Earth burns to our songs and our sighs,
as the face of time utters wild passionate cries

Our bright blue ball with its forests and lakes,
yet listening closely we hear how it aches

Balance is the heart of healing and changing
perfection of nature stirs our very souls

Each new season seasons rearranging
Love and peace and rock and roll

Years pass by, tenuous and tethered,
yet we roll along, somewhat tattered and weathered,

Our hearts become one as we cherish the time,
we now strive together, abstain the term "mine",

The wheel still turns, a solace for pain,
a clandestine home, our comfort and gain,

So Planet Earth burned while poets pled
And the face of time spread open to heaven

Our hopes and dreams rising, creation aware
fervently earnest like mantra or prayer,

Our failures and weaknesses, darkness, dispair
all rising up, wafting, like a smoke in the air,

An eye to the future, a mote in our eye,
we stumble and stagger, we soar through the sky,

Above us, a canopy, silver and black
we look out to heaven, the heavens look back

From infinite stillness the orb glistens in
shimmering brilliance, a swirl of iridescence

In persistent variation ephemeral
Nature wakes us from our unbearable trembling

And we in the eye of the storm seduced
linger by the color of some haunting perfume

So I offer my acoustic token and my electric prayer
In a ceremony of rosewood in the cellar downstairs

Eyes of the world shall view the countenance of soon futures passed
While minds wonder how long the music will last

Our thoughts as touch effortlessly flow
enthralled the shallow vessels aspire to the sound

The time we share, sporadic and treasured,
our footsteps, together in history, are how we are measured

As among ancients the immense ocean of life flees
our spirits soar reflecting the creative

Like a clock, a lifetime's visage mirrors the movements within
Be truly alive, lest the stillness of time be your death

Less obvious now, those carefree spirits roaming the earth,
when random acts of kindness were given to song,

we continue to rejoice, to love, to care,
yet we ponder over thoughts of "Where have all the flowers gone?"

Ongoing rhythms born again express grace sincere
sound as sight sooths our seeking senses

We know that we have nothing to fear
Except from the walls of our own defenses

Attacking ourselves like a cancerous cell
We push and we pull between heaven and hell

Instead of a balance we cling to our shields
Organic dysfunction that begs to be healed

confusion divides us, fear brings us down
greed is a toxin that poisons the ground

with health out of balance, hate like a cancer
in search of a center, it's love that's the answer

True love, alike time itself, is endless, but telling
always its ways, like zones, differ

Devotion’s sublime purity cascading
ourselves spontaneously in undiminished laughter

Thousands of yellow Lombardy poplar leaves swirl down,
suddenly released by the wind, cascading to the ground
in piles against blue fall sky. We all gaze up,
blessedly lost in leaf flurries, for now.

While we gaze up in awe we are serenaded
with the sounds of babbling water music
and the ahhs of friends gathered in a circle
that can never be broken, a perfect moment.

overlapping dimensions explode with fractured color textures
evoking the radiant celestial flash of friendships harmony

The mortal tongue fails us all.
The essence of time, the spark Divine
can only be revealed in silence or glossolalia.
_____________________________
1) Terry proposed this poem on the basis of fond memories of getting aquainted with Mac (David MacWessal)in the JSSF 11 Chatroom. Mac had proposed that they become aquainted by trading verse. The poem began with Terry's first stanza on 9/28/07.
2) Short, casual contributions were suggested, no rules.
3) FACES OF TIME concluded after 37 stanzas, when all recognized that Enfield had written the final verse on 10/05/07.

Writers: Terry G., Angelo Don A., Ethel, Ray, Christo, Tim O., Ron S., Enfield