The Days of Our Lives (Spoken Word, 2005)

I got three minutes to say this and then it is over….
And first a question
What do you say to a person who is dying?
Do you look them in the eye
Hold the hand that is holding the invisible thing we call by name
But can’t see
Hoping to carry a piece of them with you
Or do you look away
What do you say to a person
Who is living in stolen moments
Every breath a silent wish
What do you say
With all your tomorrow’s and I can’t waits
In the mist of all your mundane obsurdities
Forgotten I love you’s
Stingy praise
And idle hateful words
Ladled on a hearty plate
What do you say to a person
When I’m sorry isn’t enough
And every empty word
Feeds your own emptiness
Of all the you
That you never were
Because you thought you’d have time
Waiting on death
Waiting on time?
It was time

Time..

But is death every really on time?
Or is time on death?
The two twins, with time entering first, and death following behind, fashionably late?
And the space in between, fate?
I got two minutes and then it is over, y’all….
Maybe it isn’t death we fear, but time
Because after death there goes time
Still there
You would think time was on crack
Giving you the impression that every hit will be like the last
Until the last
We don’t have enough time
we’re doing time
screwing time
Let’s face it ..maybe it is time waiting for us at the bus stop
Sucking on a lolliop
Waiting for us like that afterschool bully
We had from with our feet up on the toilet
So nobody can find us hiding in the stalls
Time is a peeping tom
Looking in on our precious moments
The silent shadow in every photo

Who will be responsible for your time?
Is your time on crack?
Do you use it liberally like it is going out of fashion
Or do you make a vain attempt to hoard your time
Until you discover like manna it spoils from disuse?
Do you tarry across time hoping to beat the tsunami
Hoping God will part your red sea
Or do you spend your time building the biggest, baddest
Bomb shelter you can make so that you don’t have to deal
With trivial things like fate?
Who will beis responsible for you time
If it ain’t got no mama and don’t call nobody daddy?
Will you stand up for it, or stand against it?
Does your time have rims on it
With spinners
Is it colder in the summer than winter
Do you hold onto your time like a 45
Joy
And joy
And pain
Just playing the same song again
Or are you looking for a better way to spend your time?
And investment plan
Maybe two years of grad school
And thirty years of marriage and enough dividends to spent retirement in Kawai
Hi? Who is responsible for your time
Did you let it play in the street without tending to it?
Did you let it loose by the stove when suddenly you found it got burned?
Will you hold onto your time like you hold onto your granmother’s shawl
Just because it smells like her
Just because it smells like her
Just because?
I got one minute and then this is over y’all…..

What do you say to someone who is dying?
When that someone everyday, is you, and terminal, except
Who is it that can pick up your time and put it back together again
When you’ve made Humpty Dumpty out of your life?
Who is it that stands against time
Who can tell it to obey when it is running
Can find it when it is lost
Can call it when it is hiding
Can stop it from getting away
Can tell it peace be still
And so it is called?
Who can tame
the two twins, with time entering first, and death following behind, fashionably late?
And the space in between, fate?
Two twins, one womb, but only one tomb
Because time goes on as directed to the next party
And I believe in afterparty in the after life
And I believe e=mc2 means that absolutely time cannot be destroyed but converted from one form to the next
God and time is gon’ fight
And I know all my battles are conquered on the other side
Because check it out there is only one word that can stand up against
(get up stand up)
there is only one word that can get up and stand up against
time and death
and that is
Jesus
Jesus
Jesus
The time has come for you!