There Is A Ritual To Our Lives Poem by Tim Harman

There is a ritual to our lives
The tea before 9
The cereals at breakfast
Love on a Wednesday
But only before 11
Always the same
We know the taste
The smell
This is the ritual we live
The slow dance to death

It is change that got us this far
Life is change, just spelt wrong
There is no ritual in change
No pattern to life
Only the pattern we force upon it
With routine and familiarity
Life and change
Are random forces
Pushing us forward
Driving our lives
Mapping a road
We all choose not to see
Junctions we walk past
Paths we miss
Tracks we never knew
Were open for us to follow

This is the tragedy in the end
We live our lives
Believing we are free
Enlightened
Spirits of Guia
We see the trees by the road
We see only the tree
Not the design
The exact spacing
Planted, not for the tree
But by the planner
To sell the dream
Don't walk on the grass
Don't climb the tree
Don't touch this reality


We have run, you and I
Chased our dreams
First across counties
Then further
Across countries
I wonder sometimes
If we have lost so much
On the journey
To make our journey lighter
Faster
What have we left by the side of the road?
Rich pickings for time to gather
Is someone else wearing
Some of the love
We once shared?
Are we in such a hurry
That we would leave so much?
Where were we
When turning from the path we shared
We never noticed
We were turning from the sun
And our shadows no longer followed us
But crept ahead
Slowly
Darkening our way

The shadows are long now
At times I can hardly remember
How we got this far
How many bridges
Built in a morning
Collapsed under the burdens
We chose to keep
It's always the light one gives up first
And darkness ways heavy on the soul
I see it at times
Moments of clarity
Only moments
Fleeting glimpses
Shown to me
Glimpses of pure light
Seen through the clutter
Seen through spectacles
No longer rose tinted
But stained
Tainted by the rituals
The rituals of our lives


Did someone move the coffee
I'm sure I left it here.


(Epilogue)

Walk with me now
We have run too far
Paid a price
Beyond the ticket value
The sun was always there
It never left our lives
We just turned our backs
Chose to look away
Let us make the turn together
Slowly at first
Sometimes the light burns your eyes
So we stay in the half light
Curtains drawn
Holding onto the night
Is sleep such a great escape?
Or have we forgotten
We are creatures of the light
You and I
We are our own beginnings
And the end
The end is closer than the start
Walk with me now
Let us leave the half light
Walk with me now.