'Time Running Forth... ' Poem by Daniel Brick

The philosophers of this school
established in the previous century
were called 'The Itinerants, ' but
no one, not even the Master, knew why.
'When time runs out... ' was his response.
Some of the older residents of their Commons
considered that the first phrase of their
school's highest wisdom, but no one,
not even those who espoused it, knew why.
Over time, the rival schools renamed
the Itinerants the Half-Spoken. No one
remembers if it was meant as mockery.
It became just another name.

The Master was Belran, and had been
for forty years the benevolent leader
of some one hundred Itinerants. When one
left to join another school, he had
the privilege to appoint his replacement.
The eager youth chosen never disappointed
the Master and was welcomed by all the Itinerants.
Making a sudden but deeply pondered choice
was their highest moral task. This is what
they embodied in themselves, this is what
they taught pupils who came to the Commons
for a spell of knowledge and then returned
to the world. It was the quietest form
of wisdom our world knows of. In fact,
it seemed to teach itself to pupils time
and again, the teachers themselves imbued
with its calming dimension...

In his forty-second year as Master,
Belran composed a treatise, which he read
at two ceremonial occasions in spring.
The treatise was well received, members
of the two rival schools attended readings,
and publicly praised it, one even spoke of it
as a cognitive bridge linking their schools.
Belran was observed smiling during his mediation
sessions, and he laughed heartily at jokes.
An aged scribe prepared a copy in his fine script
on expensive Egyptian papyrus, and even wrote
a title on the first line: 'Time Running Forth... '
He gave no reason for that title, Belran only smiled,
so the younger Itinerants discussed it fervently and
another book was prepared with all of their ideas
carefully laid out, so that no one stood out.
Belran approved, and died quietly in his sleep
in his forty-fifth year as the Master...

His successor was the youngest
ever appointed, and his selection,
sudden but deeply pondered, was
a source of wide-spread joy.
Nalus was a specialist in mathematics,
he has invented a new way of applying
ALGEBRA to the knottiest problems
of their age. 'Friends and colleagues, '
Nalus said to the Assembly of the Itinerants,
'Perhaps it is the nature of Time to run forth,
and not out. Perhaps there is a source of Time
so abundant, it may be virtually eternal.
Perhaps for too long we have looked at Time
from the perspective of its end, and it is time
to readjust our thinking. At this point, I have
no more to say. But I encourage you to include
this new phrase - TIME RUNNING FORTH... -
in your meditations and discussions... '
And all the Itinerants were pleased that
Master Nalus has reaffirmed their identity
as the Half-Spoken!