The time traveler’s wives report curious
incidents of dogs and cats in the night,
when time machines rocked and kicked

for love in times of cholera. Brief histories 

of time reveals there is still time to kill. But
leaving time out overnight causes wrinkles
in time, tempting timekeepers to turn wheels

of time in totally different ways. Still, children

enjoy reading true diaries of part-time Indians
who recall only tall tales for the time being.
In the time of butterflies, we learn to stop

the wings of time. Yet time and again, winds

of time knock at the door — and we answer.
We debate being on time, one child at a time,
though some students enter forgetting time,

left suddenly without any time for goodbyes.

The paradoxes are here and must be accepted
at times, at least till the fire burns the next time.
Time’s only converts, stuck in time between time,

carry on searching for their long-lost times that

disappear after the times they lie. With its brief
history, time still lies between us; and, we know,
only time will tell us anything, if anything at all.

In current half-times, drowning in noisy times,

the sands of time kiss the coarse fabric of cosmos,
still in love with space-time’s rough-textured reality.
And thieves of time sing songs in extraordinary time

about whether there really is time enough for love.

Others know we may already be lost in time, if not
actually out of time. Yes, there is a time to live and
a time to die. Yet, we wish we could turn back time,

especially when time’s arrows pierce the long dark

tea-time of women’s souls, there! right at the edge
of time where their children at times salvage — or is
it savage? — the passing hours of daytime and night.

This may remind us how and why now is the time
to pursue our passions. Maybe this time, the gaps
in time will allow us new bedtimes and bed-mates.

We could track the maps of time found in the Paris

time capsule and stand — for the very first time? —
complete and uncut, somewhat like the last time we
drooled together over the Old Time Traveler’s guide.

Time’s eye was put out, though at least we had time

together with fun and laughter with the daughters
of time in their pajamas. Yes — everything has been
a long time coming, just as the Bhagavad Gita’s tales

have told since times of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.

And like the one last time the lone genius solved
the greatest problem of time, as old as time itself, is
off course — no ordinary time, but time regained —

time erasing half lives and so many good ole times.

Then, of course, there’s always the right time to pick
up the torn, time-tested guide for anyone who wants
to start anything. Artists slip and slide in time, putting

time out of joint, generally ignoring time, as it seems

they can get more done with less time. Their histories
of time-bending and -sculpting are far beyond simple
understanding. Now, powerful queens and goddesses

of big times suggest we each transcend time bombs,

that instead we dance to the music the second time
around, just as cats meow and know it’s only a matter
of time before more kibble and water arrive. Time’s

angels turn right and left, often one wing at a time.

Full-time and part-time lovers, living in these times
of global warming, want to trade time — or, at least,
find the lands that time forgot. Others kill time and

try to hoard their spoils of time. They move unaware,

one day at a time, during times of great indifference,
that time may shift at any moment and ship us all up
muddy rivers of time, without any of our belongings.

So, next time, let us continue to untwist time and dance
wildly with unnamed poets as we circle together in sacred
rhythms around elegant, emptied out hourglasses of time.

Yes, time hides in every fold — miraculous and manifest.

. . . . .

Susan Powers Bourne

. . . . .