Chasing The World An Hour Behind Poem by Sarah Mkhonza

Waking up when the world has left you,
Everything leaves you behind,
For the world has marched on,
To a future you will only know,
When you catch up with it.

For futures to catch up,
It is the effort of ants,
Who always know it is coming,
While we dawdle and fidget,
In our daily musings,

Assured life will go on,
We need to accept facts,
And live as if the future is here,
For it is coming here anyway,
And never going anywhere.

I live and try to follow the world,
That left me while I was asleep,
And hate to know I am the last,
For everything went on without me.

I sit on the table of life,
Catch up on leftovers,
Just glad food does taste better,
When warmed up and taken later.

The juices mix in my mouth,
And tell me with the after taste,
That I have driven myself to a halt,
By not setting the alarm.

My excuse of time changes,
Cannot save me now,
That the service has started,
Church is going on without me,
The choir will sing without me,

When I peek in heads turn,
Everybody knows the truth,
I was not aware of time changes,
And thought it was still early,
At the eleventh hour.

They flatter the last worm,
When they tell him he is fine,
For he will not be eaten by by birds,
For those early one always,
Catch the worm like them.

This time thing eluded me,
When it came to chasing,
Even girls and boys knew it,
That I fight for no worm,
Hence this end of the game,
Of chasing the world an hour behind.

When will you get to the finish line,
When the others have finished the race,
Before you start, they ask,
I did not hear the gun and get on my marks,
But I promise to make the it to the end,
For it is more important to start,
Then make sure you finish,
For in this world of finishings,
Endings happen because of beginnings.