Time waits for no one
No daughter, no son
It is a runaway train
Moment of love followed by pain
It is filled with wonders beyond belief
It is also a thief
Nothing hurts or heals you more
Comforts you and leaves you sore
Time opens the window and closes the door
Gives your first breath and ages you daily
It comes and goes in season
It is faith and treason
To everything turn
Time and Karma are
Lessons learned or
Blessings earned
Spend it don't waste it
Used it wisely
It is here today and gone tomorrow
It is ultimately something we borrow
Time
From: Uptown Déjà Vu
Summary
“Time” by Jimmie Ware is a poem centered on love and relationships, family, nature. The poem develops its subject through recurring images and shifts in emotional pressure rather than reducing the experience to a single statement.
Analysis
Voice
The poem uses direct address, creating an intimate and sometimes confrontational relationship with its subject.
Style and form
The poem is line-driven, compressed. The poem moves by accumulation: images, references, and tonal turns build on one another, so meaning emerges from their relationships as much as from narrative sequence.
Themes and imagery
Its strongest thematic currents include love and relationships, family, nature, travel and movement. Concrete images give those abstractions physical weight, while changes in diction and pace keep the poem from settling into a single emotional register.
Reading the poem
A productive way to read “Time” is to watch how its images change function as the poem progresses. Details that initially establish scene or memory become emotional evidence. The result is a poem whose argument is carried through association, rhythm, and image as much as through explicit statement.
Explore this poem
Source & rights
Source: Uptown Déjà Vu
Rights: Copyright controlled by the rights holder. Published here with permission.