Time's Other Side

 She danced across the dawn in gold before slipping into a modest gray day-gown...

Here in the crux twixt ‘has been and ‘will be’

Lifetimes are rendered; the surge of a sea

That can never be fettered or clutched in our fists

Sweeps through our fingers in moment-tide mists

Startling proposals of courage and fear

Stream from a phantom, infinite frontier

Over the ramparts of ‘present’ they roar

Passion and pathos vexing the same door

Empyrean portico glistens with gold

Spilling its merit to our fumbling hold

Soon to the crypt of forevermore slips

Half-sigh incitements perplexing our lips

Darling, the aftermath of thought fulfilled

Echoes on beaches where Time's touch has spilled

Death treads a skyline where living implores

Dreamers and schemers alike to its shores

Here in the crux twixt ‘has been’ and ‘will be’

Moment-by-moment life-drops fill a sea

And we, time-drunk sailors on hope’s valiant tide

Battle the breakers to Time’s other side

Lord, grant Your mercy as here in the crux

Twixt ‘has been’ and ‘will be’ we prove our gods

Half-moment shimmers, redundant, yet new

Sheer transportation to Time’s Grand Adieu

© Janet Martin