The Seduction of the Eternal Now
©April 25th, 2019
By Vijaya Sundaram
Every minute passes, and with it
The memory of a moment of joy
And of sorrow for its passing.
To live in constant yearning,
And looking backward at all
That has been, helps me –
When I look at a flower and know
It will fade fast away,
And know that young beauty of spring
Will become tired autumn,
And see my hands, and know
They will become old.
Too much knowledge is
As dangerous as too little,
And I wish I didn’t know
With every cell in my body
That entropy is inevitable,
That it is in the order of things.
I would that I could
Sing my days away in eternal
Spring, leave thinking behind.
The eternal present seduces me –
I could bear stasis, this moment,
With music coming from the other room,
The hum of electricity in the air,
The knowledge that I can still move
With freedom, clarity, pride.
To do nothing holds a kind of pleasure.
And yet, and yet, I rush
Headlong into the next thing.
The suspense of living
Is like a surfeit of sweets,
And I want to meet Death halfway,
Rising from the table,
With a smile and an invitation
To sit down and join me.
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