Time, Perhaps Poem by Michael Shepherd

Time perhaps, for wonder –
to look around in awe
at how all that surrounds us
has somehow come about..
we who do not even know
how to grow a fingernail…

time perhaps, for gratitude –
for what we have already,
forgetting for a moment, our desires…
we who have forgotten
whom or how to thank..

time perhaps, for praise –
if not the Lawyer, praise the laws…
if not the lover, praise the love…
we who might become
praiseworthy through our praise…

time perhaps, for imagination –
to consider how things might be,
for then they might become…
we who have the world itself
inside us, just as much as that
great cosmos that’s out there…

time perhaps, for simplicity –
to pare life down to those things
which give us greatest joy –
and then, enjoy them all the more…
we who love complexity
when masquerading as the new…

time perhaps, for time –
to live a measured calm
of stillness, peace and rest
and find the joy there all the time …
we who ceaselessly invent
the labour-saving, and then find
ourselves a slave to these new toys…

time perhaps, to transcend time –
and live a timely life
of timeless joy; and know then,
all that’s not been mentioned here…
we who have yet to know
what human beings really are…