“How rich we are in knowledge, and in all that lies around us yet to learn.
Billionaires, all of us.” - Ursula LeGuin
No Time to Spare
Each day hundreds of intersections
breached. Whether to stop, pause or
gun through are my pivotal choices.
More & more these bisections are
dissections of lives in debris.
Through layers of life lived, choices made,
paths never explored, diversions,
loss & pain devour the remains of this
and that person before my very eyes.
No time to spare. Where is the dollar tucked,
the bag of snacks, clean socks, and such to
share, to say I see you there? And, yet where
am I going, so urgently? How am I going
down the road to my inevitable demise?
Aren’t I and this beleaguered road side
guy on the same side of the time lane?
Sometimes delayed by factors of construction
or a jam, I come upon a scene of destruction
crash site, injured soul, chaos of crisis,
bodies to dispose. Here in thought, I pause
reckon with whatever cause to which I’m
rushing, and I give thanks to this person gone,
who likely took my place, as I move on,
with no time to spare
—Martha Koock Ward
