Minutes

Tick Tock, Tick Tock.

 

 

We spend our

Time chasing fortunes.

Years spent in college

Or scratching and clawing

Up rungs of workplace ladders.

 

We spend our time

Amassing our fortunes

However large or small,

And then we struggle to

Decide how to spend them.

 

All the while,

The one commodity

That holds the most value

Streams through our

Fingers like sand.

 

You can save your

Dollars and your gold.

You can protect your possessions

But you cannot save

Your minutes.

 

Spend your minutes

Wisely. You can

Never get them back.

My father ran out

Of minutes last week.

Reviews

[SPINNING ON that dizzy ..]

What a lesson to be learned and shared. The loss of a father is tough to take - I lost mine last August and I asked myself the same question - where did the time go.... time I had hoped to spend much much differently. This is lovely in it's message and the bittersweet truth of making choices and having life make the decisions.....

Kath

[Poeticpiers]

its not the length of time we are granted thats important but how we choose to use it

A wlel written pice of poetry

[Scott Free]

Amazing writing. That's so true, it just made me stop and think...and that's what poems are supposed to do.
The last line just struck like the stroke of a clock in my mind and made me wonder what writing this poem must have meant to you.
Thank you for sharing.

[Blackbirdsong]

This is so true. The richest men and women can buy corporations, islands, but not time. That is the great equalizer for us all. I'm sorry for your loss and thank you for th gift of wisdom. I must say the minutes spent in reading and reviewing this were in no way wasted.

[Ed Hart]

gently, i hope...

[Babbette Francis]

I'm so sorry to hear about your father, Jerry. My heart goes out to you. Time is a precious thing and it seems that no matter how we spend it there's never enough of it. My condolences, Jerry.
God Speed

[BrightEyes]

I was agreeing and nodding throughout the read here....and then hit between the eyes at the ending. There is something in the loss of a parent; it seems to take something out of us. I remember the loss of my mother keenly still and am sorry for your loss. I liked how you actually broke the time down into minutes....making the point that it is each precious moment that needs to be carefully treasured and spent wisely. There will always be those things we have to do...no way around that....it is making sure we do not get overwhelmed with have to things in life....and have time for the things that matter.

[1809 Black Plague Decem..]

oh gosh, so sorry, it is true, I believe in your words firmly,
:(

my best friend died a year and a half ago, and all he did
was write, feast, and enjoy his last years with me, family, friends
mostly me, I just did not have it coming because he hid his dying days,
but I think we made the most of it, I love him dearly, my best best friend, mishy

[Adrian K. Smith]

This is a poignant lesson as has been pointed out. It matters not if one has an infinite supply of minutes or if they have but one more minute to go; it is how those minutes are spent - what was done with them - were they wasted, and if so - who is to judge that they were wasted? Each of us values our time in different ways, hoping to accomplish this or that as time goes by... or perhaps just seeking to avoid this or that as time goes by. Time has lost such meaning, as it flies by at times - while we complain when it seems to drag.

I have spent too much time arguing with one I love over stupid things. I cannot get that time back. I can sit around wasting time worrying about that time or I can try to cherish each moment... but then again, if you live each moment as if it were your last... are you really living? There has to be some happy medium, some middle ground that can be reached...

In 10th Grade, the Chemistry teacher had written around the clock in the classroom: "Time will pass. Will you?"

When our time comes, for our times will come, only we can really answer that question... did we pass?

[Chloe..Across the Unive..]

This is so true.. and please let me say how sorry i am to hear about your Dad.. my Dad ran out of minutes back in the eighties while i was listening to U2 sing With or Without You..
This Summer my best friend forever, age 27 ran out of minutes .. yes, it is so true .
No way will those minutes come back.

Chloe
xoxo

[An Ordinary Woman]

Father Time.

A very sobering write, friend. I am deeply sorry about your father. My condolences to you. And a big hug.