Author Information
Late for Your Life
Each Saturday without fail he comes back
To sing the same song note for note.
Weighted down by the same cheap backing track
He more or less does it by rote.
He tells me everything just holds him down
But never steers his car beyond this town.
Failure to recognize time as it passes
Allows it inside you to twist like a knife.
It burns as it loiters, slow like molasses,
Then you suddenly find you’re late for your life.
I try to value the diamonds in my path
As I have learned that they’re precious and few.
I’ve spent too long now in their sorry aftermath
Realizing their worth once they’ve long passed through.
There are choices we make that form our foundations,
Distractions we have the power to filter out.
Do we need all these ads and notifications?
Perhaps life would be richer if we did without.
I recommend looking up from your phone
Before bassinets become tassels on a stage.
Don’t let opportunities you postpone
Define you with such bitter regret as you age.
I want to take all the chances that are left to take,
To savor my mother’s voice as she sings a song.
I want to see the children who don’t know what’s at stake,
Who don’t yet appreciate that little lasts long.
If we only spin wheels we can live with the effects,
But it’s better to linger between after and next.
Failure to recognize time as it passes
Allows it inside you to twist like a knife.
It burns as it loiters, slow like molasses,
Then you suddenly find you’re late for your life.
