“ The Almighty Time ”
– the god to whom mortals pray –
A prerequisite is to be friends,
And so of our Almighty Time
Held we the naïve would tend,
Ne’er fall short to toe his line
Or fail not err that so offends,
To suffer alas its cruel assign
As this god an ultimate killer,
On a whim may find consign
Ye now be but mortal sinner,
Piteous to the Almighty Time,
The god to whom mortals pray
Tho fated their peace of mind,
Ever so far from extended stay
For an apathetic god sees deign,
If The Almighty Time gives way!
© Jean-Jacques Fournier
ode to all we who seek to stall time…
Music – exerpt of As time Goes By, by Dexter Gordon …
Photos – Independent collection…
written in Sweetsburg
September 6, 2020
Poetry on a Canapé 
I once read that a society is considered to be progressive when they follow time by way of a clock or watch. That is, the more we depend on time as a tool for organizing our days, the more advanced we are as a society and civilization. I have come to think that we need to re-evaluate this premise. I love your title: The Almighty Time” – the god to whom mortals pray.” Brilliant, Jean-Jacques – you have said it all in a few words.
Ah my very dear friend, Rebecca, This was one of the easier composes to complete, with an economy of words I so prefer. Simply because it was in part like writing my own story. That of nudging the gods, and in particular, The Almighty Time – that ultimate god of gods – who I’ve been hiding from more and more these passing years, hoping he’ll forget me for a while yet… Thus so because I’ve more than a few good poetic tales to shed before I go. Thank you my dear for your observation, and kind words, especially on this one, that I happen to favour…!
We need to have a discussion on time, Jean-Jacques. You understand the poignancy as well as the predictability of how time manages to out-smart us all. But in the meantime, let’s continue to hide…
I agree on both counts, discussion on time is an absolute, whenever you like, but in the meantime, trying to keep one step ahead of The Almighty Time, is to hide and about all one can do… bonne chance, chère amie!
Jean-Jacques
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Isn’t that interesting that a society is considered to be progressive when it follows time by way of a clock or a watch. It could be that’s true to a certain point, but when that point is reached and the society becomes a slave to time, it starts to regress.
Interesting, a slave to time, sad, if that is possible in the true sense of the word slave. However I hadn’t seem my mythological god, The Almighty Time, as a kind of slave owner doling out that precious commodity, said time, to a slave society, in the manner he is described in my inferred reflection. At a certain time in life I believe one is more apt to be concerned with time running out, rather than becoming slave to it. But that’s just little old me…! Thanks, Liz…
You’re welcome, Jean-Jacques. I think of being a slave to time in my working life.
I agree wholeheartedly, Liz – very well said. When we begin to look as time as something we can control simply by keeping to a schedule, we have difficulty with the unpredictability of life. It goes to the idea of instant demand: from instant access to WIFI, to instant coffee, and text communication, instant medical treatment to instant healing. And the list goes on.
Thanks, Rebecca. The list does indeed go on. I feel so much better and at peace when I can be out in nature and going through the day on sun time.
Well, I must say … my metaphorical god seems to be shining the light on the so to speak sins of modern day society’s instant everything. For our said smug and over-fed society has in the process lost track of the cost of time that you could well say has become self-imposed. Thus so having made, as you say Rebecca, from access to instant WIFI to that awful instant coffee and everything in between, a way of living. Doesn’t that bring to fore the naivety of said humans blindly toeing the line to its self-detriment in the use of time. Who born to this so-called modern day society, is ready to give up on instant everything access, that “The Almighty Time – the god to whom mortals pray ” is trying to point out…? Time of which there is far less than we humans want to believe, slave of or not…? Thank you ladies, for instigating this exchange…
Jean-Jacques
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Just a last morsel from me Liz, in keeping with your introduction, that of society becoming a slave to time. Written in 2015 but still fits present day life, and no doubt always will.
This is an excerpt from a book by Viet Thanh Nguyen called “The Sympathizer” winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, save words that follow are far from fiction.Thus I quote; If one understood history’s laws, then one could control history’s chronology, wresting it away from capitalism, already intent on monopolizing time. We wake, work, eat, and sleep according to what the landlord, the owner, the banker, the politician, and the schoolmaster command… We accept that our time belongs to them, when in truth our time belongs to us”.
And of course to The Almighty Time – the god to whom we pray – at least says I in my humble poem…!
Thank you for passing along Nguyen’s wise words, Jean Jacques.
Ah, yes, my dear friend… The Almighty Time! Beautiful and perfect music too! 🙏
Thank you Marina… pleased that you liked it…