Elevator Ride

My sluggard lift’s
unhurried levitation
or descent
seems time ill-spent
departing from
returning to the firmament

Still better though
than bygone days
toiling the leaden stairs
and grateful for
a moment’s breath
aspiring to the final floor

Thus on reflection
I learn time used
proportions to
the time we’re in
and history
leavening impatience
brings perspectivist duration
to the time that’s now or then
although tomorrow’s time
continues dim

Unlike the present din
the past seems sensible
like the ride that’s been
declines to jar repose
lets measure in

Oh but today does hurry so
as if fulfillment
is the only map we know
as if the little in our squint
if rendered with dispatch
would enable us to show
how it is we come
why it is we go

7/94-10/30/94, 11/3-11/17/07, 2/10-2/13/08

Copyright 1994, 2008 by Maurice Leiter

Posted with permission.