What Is and Is Not Enough

 

We’ve all heard them say it:

“Seventy years is enough for me.”

As if on some strange morning, not too long from now,

Coffee will suddenly lose its flavor,

Bacon and eggs turn dull and bland,

Sunrise bore us, and the chirping of birds

Go all discordant, like an off-tune harp;

 

As if someday we’ll run out of books

(Though new ones are written every day)

And finish all the little projects

That we’ve been putting off for decades now;

 

As if love itself could somehow sour -

Not one love but all love, overnight;

As if the child we cradle in our arms

Is only waiting to become loathsome -

Which in a way is true, of course,

But also not true, and very much missing the point.

 

The point is this: you have this little moment.

You have no other, and you never will.

Only two lengths of time can ever be sufficient

To sate the boundless hunger of the soul:

 

Eternity, and the infinitesimal present.

Anything in between is not enough.

 

December 23, 2022