2018

AWith time flying by so quickly, it is hard to kleep things straight.

T’was the night before Christmas, and time had flown by.
As I sat by the fireplace, I was wondering why.
Had the timeline been altered, was gravity in flux?
Should I line up my plans in a row like some ducks?

Where had they gone the months that disappeared?
They just swirled by, out of control, I feared.
January had come, and flew by so fast,
I couldn’t remember the New Years Eve bash.

February with its rodent asleep in his burrow
Thinking about it makes my eyes just furrow.
March blew in like a lion, out like a lamb,
Was that when I got all that horrendous spam?

April brought spring, and the rains they did fall.
But most is a blank, I can’t remember at all.
May must have come, but I blinked, it was June.
This whole thought process is making me swoon.

July and its fireworks flashed in the blink of an eye
I remember August being really hot and too dry.
Next it was fall, I recall someone saying.
I could hear the dogs outside barking and baying.

Now as I sat there and stared into the fire,
I tried to think, raise my consciousness higher.
I can’t remember months past, nor yesterday.
Next something appeared in the yard, like some deer and a sleigh.

I was hallucinating, of that I was sure.
But the scene outside was so innocent, so pure.
A man in the sleigh, a red outfit he wore,
Jumped down to the ground and headed for the door.

As he came near, it opened and closed in his wake,
He walked up and to me and said, “For pity’s sake.
You’re supposed to be asleep, sugarplums dancing in your head.
Not sitting here staring at the fire with dread.”

“I’m having problems with time. I need a doctor. Is that you?”
“Do I look like a healer? A doctor?  Doctor Who?
But your issue with time, of that I can see.
I can explain, make you better, immeasurably.”

“You see, time runs in a circle, it goes in, it goes out.
But you must follow it closely or you will just pout.
It moves up and down and then all around,
With wonders and delights that vastly abound.”

“It moves back and forth like a snail then a hare.
It invites you to concentrate, then follow if you dare.
Yesterday is the past and tomorrow the future.
But they get sewn together like your doctor’s sutures.”

“The future becomes present and then becomes past,
It all joins together from the first to the last.
But somewhere in the middle there is a timey-wimey spin
Which sets it on its axis then upright again.”

“Today becomes yesterday, and yesterday’s twin,
Trying to follow it all makes your brain spin.
Things wind together, they crisscross, they condense,
Which makes syntax confused
and most definitely tense.”

“Some moments fly by, while others go slow,
It seems so poetic in the end don’t you know?
But it all comes together and becomes rather pleasant.
That’s why at this time, I call it the present (get it?).”

“So you just sit back and remember it all,
From the winter to the spring, the summer and the fall.
Now thanks to my help, it comes in quite clearly,
Which is why I have to show up here yearly.”

At that point, he was quiet and went about his work,
He seemed like a nice guy, not much of a jerk.
He set out many gifts all around the tree,
And then gave a laugh and slapped at his knee.

He bounded to the door, it opened, and it closed,
I sat there, mesmerized, much more composed.
He jumped on his sleigh, and gave a flick of his wrist.
The sleigh flew to the sky with a turn and a twist.

But he turned, came around, to make one more pass,
With all of the speed that he could amass.
I heard him exclaim as he tightened his knuckles,
“Merry Christmas to all, I hope you liked this year’s chuckles.”

Copyright Ó 2018 by

Brian and Shirley Dean