Time Density Poem by Joseph S. Josephides

- If time is taken as the image of the eternal,
what is then the time density?

- For the density of fifty years ask
a prisoner for life, he will tell exactly,
for the density of thirty, ask a couple of married,
of fifteen years, ask a physician,
of four years, a student will reply,
of two years, a soldier in the army,
of nine months, ask a mother in childbed.

- Then what about dense density?

- For one week a worker will tell you,
for eight hours, better ask a surgeon,
for half an hour, a fast-food cook knows,
for one minute, the last passenger does,
for one second, a castaway who survived,
for a third, a sprinter before the thread of finish.

- Then what’s sparse density of life?

- Is what a conqueror or a ruler has lost
(due to malaria, drunkenness, ulcer or poison)
without making himself the change he wanted,
and misses the grace that he never embraced.