Time Is Short Poem by Patti Masterman

Time is short, Jesus said:
Before the cock crows thrice,
Eyes burning like ten thousand suns
Weeping at the wailing wall, stretching
Across a valley of broken sighs.

Time is short, how could we forget
The child we smothered, inside of us;
Dumbed him down with memorization,
With bus route schedules,
Black-booked itineraries.

Time is short, and full of woe
As the evil of the day triumphs again,
And our grief is always sufficient unto us:
It fills up the raging emptiness-
When it comes knocking on our door,
We no longer act surprised.

(First two lines taken from the bible:
Jesus said to him, 'I tell you with certainty, before a rooster crows this very night, you will deny me three times.' Matthew 26: 34, International
Standard Version,2008)