On Time

for Franziska

I questioned the clock but
It struck me as it stuck
To its tick-tock story
That it never knew what
It was ticking about

So why should I worry
About what something thought
Which never stops to think
Tick-tocking to the brink?

I went away without
The certainty of time
I know what it will say
Tomorrow as today
A pleasant mocking chime

It cannot stop to ask
But answers on the hour
Relentless in its task
Mechanical with power

Ordering the lives of
Those who are not in love

+Steven Curtis Lance



Copyright MMV

Gorgeous write Stevie! Kudos to a man who knows the time and is too legit to quit!

Thanks so much, Rodger!

I like that: "too legit to quit."

I'm just getting started; by the grace of God and with a little help from my friends, I'll get by somehow.

Thanks again and love,

+Stevie

"too legit to quit."

Yeah, Stevie, I borrowed that from M.C. Hammer!

Rodger hums, "ooh I get by with a little help from my friends......"

That John Lennon wasn't such a bad poet himself, was he?

Hi Rodger...

Yeah, I grew up inspired by John Lennon, absolutely.

Say, you missed the crosspatch Unknown who was here earlier! I should have left what she wrote (I know exactly who it was) for you to read; it would have given you a chuckle. It was all pretty transparent, at least to everyone but her.

Oh well, I have to trot down to the bank now as soon as it opens to fix my checking account, lest the check for the design and layout services for The Little Book of Lance bounce; too many birthdays all clustered up together have put quite a strain on the old checking account. All three of my kids have birthdays within days of each other. I used to have a wife with a birthday on 6 September, but another fella has her now. Good thing for my personal economy, that; also she always expected me to bake her a cake from scratch each year, which I did. Heaven help me had I ever used a mix: it had to be this certain recipe, which was incredibly complicated.

So now the birthday season is over, and I am left with happy memories (even of those cakes, honestly). Today my dear Grandma would have been one hundred years old.

I am so happy you are here among us, Rodger; you make us so much better. I thank God for you.

Love,

+Stevie

Remember Alice in Wonderland, that story inspired by a touch of madness features this little Bunny flitting about squeeking *I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date*, guess someone liked to take the piss on that living by the clock behaviour

Thank you for your poem, i liked this very much

Franziska*xxX

You have the most amazing mind Steven..

misty..

Thank you, Franziska and Misty. That other Unknown was pretty snotty and snarky about this one (I don't think she liked the dedication, the dedicatee, or me, actually), so it is a reassuring joy to find an Unknown who is actually one of our best poets, you yourself dear Misty, saying that I have the most amazing mind! Thanks so much for that; it is, if nothing else, certainly an unusual mind (insane, perhaps, for all I know and to hear some tell it!).

There is actually a lot of humor in this little poem. I was pleasantly surprised that they actually "got" that over on AuthorsDen, where they sometimes don't.

I went to the bank and was delighted to discover that the check did not, in fact, bounce! I left there feeling like The Lucky Little Bastard indeed (having dumped a few hundreds into the account just in case, however, against future frights; I will never understand money, and I think my checking account has a leak in it somewhere). Also, the bank seems to always have these beautiful cookies in the shape of windmills, with a distinctive ginger flavor to them; I took a few on the way out.

So, I am just waiting for The Little Book of Lance, the birthing process of which will begin on Wednesday, 24 August; it will probably be presented to the world on Friday or Monday. But I want to take my time with the proofreading... all I know is the labor-pains will begin on Wednesday.

Until then, and through the process of my little book's birth, I think I will take a long-needed bit of a rest. I have been writing at least one poem every day for three years now, and I think I will pause a moment. Of course, having said that, I might well be back here with a new poem in a half an hour; it is very strange how the creative process works like that.

Anyway, if I don't post anything new for a few days, it will be because I am resting in that sense while working very hard in another sense on my new book. Giving birth, if you will. And thinking about things, quietly.

I love and honor and cherish you all, my dear friends and fellow poets; you may always depend on my unbreakable solidarity.

I think I will try to sleep awhile now.

Love,

+Stevie

See you back here in a half an hour, Stevie! Wink, wink.

...and I was back here in a half an hour, Rodger, too, just as you said.

Thanks so much for your encouragement and support. You are a fascinating and extraordinarily well-skilled poet.

Respect and solidarity, my friend.

Love,

+Stevie

dear steven

many many happy returns of the[ birthing of a book] day
with all best wishes
'subham bhuuyat'[let all the best occur]
supani

Thank you, dear Supani!

Subham bhuuyat to you as well; I learn so much from you.

I am so happy you are here. Thank you.

Love,

+Stevie