Just Killing Time

Started this one over a year ago and set it aside to let it "mellow" - irony that you will understand by the end of the poem!

Just Killing Time

“I’m killing time” – it’s often said

as though it weren’t a crime

And most, I’d say, do it each day

in every hill and clime

Weapons vary, motives too

results are just the same –

Time is dead and can’t come back

no matter remorse or shame

Time is the stuff ‘which life is made

some portion comes to all

Each must decide how much to use

how much to let just fall

And killing time is often fun

there’s much to entertain

while we sit back and just observe

as such our lives don’t change

There’s not to show for time we’ve killed

No corpse, no blood, no gore

No line is penned, no music scored

No art to sit before

No house is cleansed, no food prepared,

no place is seen, no chore

We lounge and watch what others do

We never leave our shore

In years to come, when looking back

what memories will swell,

The ones where we’ve just lazed around?

The ones with time spent well?

Time we can use to learn, to grow

To master some new skill

To touch the hands of those hung down

To lift, to build, to fill

That’s not to say that recreate

Is bad, is waste, is wrong

‘Tis a matter of how it’s viewed

does it bless and make us strong?

But if our lives are focused

on fun, on merry, on mirth

then time it is, we’re out to kill

when time could lead to birth

Of gardens, paintings, poetry

paths trod, vistas viewed

There really is no limit

to a new life, a life renewed

So when you start to thinkin’

what to do to just kill time

dust off your dreams, get up and go

you’ve mountains yet to climb!