Time is reality –
A reality that we have broken down
And subjugated by splitting it into fractions
That match the constructs
Of our lives and actions.
Thinking that we can constrain
Its ceaseless movement by
Deciding to refrain
From measuring it in solar days or atomic units.
The people in charge have told us what they mean:
There will be an extra second
In two thousand and sixteen,
So that
Coordinated Universal
And
Mean Solar
Time
Will once more align.
As the irregularities of our spinning
Clod of clay have caused it
Once again to move
Out of
Sync.
So that just before our glasses clink and
The clock strikes
Midnight
On New Year’s Eve it will show
23:59:60.
Giving all of us
An extra second
To get back to our coaches
Before they turn to pumpkins.
An extra second
In which our dreams
Remain dreams and
An extra second
In which we can
Forget about the nightmares of the preceding
31 million, 536 thousand units
Of measurement.
But time does not care.
Time marches on and on
Until seconds have become lifetimes.
The units of measurement do not matter –
It’s what you fill them with that counts,
Things which can never be measured
And yet which you will forever
Be measured against.
A poem for the New Year, inspired by the extra second that we all get at the end of 2016, to synchronize all the clocks worldwide. Let’s all make it count!
An audio version of the poem can be heard here.
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awesome!
my compliments and happiness and success in 2017,
Rolf
Thanks Rolf,
And to you. ????
THIS IS NO PLAGIARISM
THE LEAP SECOND
Time is reality
Yet vague in its passing
Vague and real, a bizzare duality
She is here, she is a has-been
Tick and tock,hear the talking clock
Her hands dance about in a regular fashion
She is up and down like a swinging stock
She dances with a regular passion
She speaks in seasons and ages
She talks of newborns and greymen
She is the ballerina with our lives as stages
And When we re worn from all her talent
We Rest In the mockery of our past
Or in its hallowed praises….
Thank you for this wonderful poem and Happy New Year! ????