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Time Is of the Essence

The powers that be in their ivory tower,
Make important decisions for sure,
While the rest of us mortals surrender our power,
We conform… we adapt… we endure.

I refer to the wisest decision of all,
Introduced by our leaders so bold,
Affecting each timepiece, each clock on the wall,
To our betterment so we are told.

We move the time forward an hour in the spring,
In the autumn we move it on back.
Please don’t try to question, no conjecturing,
Our leaders are never off-track.

It’s all very simple, just follow the rules,
Spring forward; fall back, right on cue.
Don’t say that we must all be limp-minded fools,
Even though this might be true.

Time is of the essence, of this there’s no doubt,
Let the powers that be have it known,
We haven’t a clue what this thing’s all about,
Why can’t we just leave time alone?

.

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Norma Pain was born in Liverpool, England and now lives in Parksville, British Columbia, Canada. Thirty of Norma’s poems were published by Dana Literary Society, between 2004 and 2007 and she was twice nominated for the Pushcart Prize by that same on-line poetry site. She self-published a book of rhyme in 2000 called Bulging Assets.

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17 Responses

  3. Joseph S. Salemi

    The Daylight Savings Time regulations, like the old law about closing English pubs at 11 PM, should be scrapped. They were things established in wartime, for emergency reasons.

    Your poem is excellent. One thing: in the last quatrain you have a hiatus in the first two words, which could easily be fixed by using a contraction in this manner —

    Time’s of the essence, of this there’s no doubt,

    This preserves your meter, while also giving you a neat parallel with the contraction /there’s/ later in the line.

    Reply
    • Norma Pain

      Thank you for your comments Joseph. I’m not sure that I understand your suggestion but I am far from an expert on poetry forms. I just find that to my ear, it sounds good. I think that perhaps it is because I read that line with the emphasis on “is”. e.g. Time “IS” of the essence.

      On a somewhat somber note, perhaps the powers that be decided never to stop the clock changes because they knew another war would happen one day!!!

      Reply
  4. Roy E. Peterson

    DST is a waste of time and resources. The message of your poem is perfect with your final plea, as it is mine, “Why can’t we just leave time alone?”

    Reply
    • Norma Pain

      Thank you Roy. Yes, I agree that the government should leave the clocks alone, along with a lot of other things that they like to meddle in.

      Reply
  5. Paul Freeman

    I always thought the idea was so folk in the northern hemisphere would get more daylight hours per day when the days started closing in, which would also save on lighting costs.

    Anyhow, time and tide…

    Thanks for the read, Norma.

    Reply
    • Norma Pain

      Thank you Paul. I heard one suggestion that it was for the school children so they wouldn’t be walking to school in the dark.

      Reply
  6. Jeff Eardley

    Well said Norma. It has always been crazy and so depressing with those dark winter days. This reads like a classic Stanley Holloway monologue. Your poetry has the knack of cheering me up no end so please don’t stop.

    Reply
    • Norma Pain

      Jeff, your comments have cheered me up no end, so thank you very much. I must check out Stanley Holloway now!

      Reply
      • Norma Pain

        Yes! ‘With a little bit of luck’ by Stanley Holloway from My Fair Lady. Thank you Jeff, for reminding me of this delightfully entertaining movie and Stanley’s other works.

  7. Margaret Coats

    Very nicely done, Norma, and I have to say so even before I take a Sunday nap to catch up on lost sleep. Good work on the meter, although I think line 16 might be regularized with profit. Also seems line 10 should read “we move it one back” in conjunction with the single hour forward in line 9. These are small things; the whole is jauntily entertaining.

    Reply
    • Norma Pain

      Thank you so much for commenting Margaret. I am with you on the napping. It seems to be a regular occurrence for me, not just twice a year!!

      Reply
  8. Yael

    Nice poem, and I wholeheartedly agree: time should be left alone. I think it is shockingly arrogant and meddlesome to set clock time back and forth seasonally.

    Reply
    • Norma Pain

      Thank you for commenting Yael. I have heard some people say that they like the twice-yearly time change but I think most people are irritated by it and wish it would end.

      Reply

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