WASTE OF TIME

Often now I ponder how, ignoring common sense,
we allow ourselves, with nonchalance, to so readily accept
imprisonment to a system of unintelligible direction
which so overwhelmingly controls, irrespective of intention,

our most perishable commodity, most rare and precious gift,
most important of life's treasures? Are we, the species, daft-
accepting evident destiny which steals our asset blind?
How dare we say that it's okay to allow the waste of time?

Ignoring personal agenda for how or which or where,
the factor which controls is "when" one gets from here to there.
A freeway trip, a checkout line, an airline terminal gate,
epitomize the 11th Commandment: "just hurry up and wait."

Race, religion, wealth or power, being smarter or nicer,
are irrelevant facts at a traffic light - the world's great equalizer.
Living within our system demands ultimate sacrifice;
we exhaust the sole commodity irreplaceable at any price.

"Could the system change for better?" is the dilemma which we face.
How to conserve more precious moments and avoid the ludicrous waste
of minutes, hours, days and weeks waiting patiently in line?
Ultimately waiting for godot? What incredible waste of time.

Some claim life's full of shortcuts, any means justified by the end.
Some think just butting in is fair since rules are meant to bend.
Others find the answer by consuming time in haste;
despite attendant stress and strain, they're loath to let time waste.

We're told the universe expands, ever increasing in its speed.
We're told time, too, accelerates - "time flies" our daily creed.
So with less and less available, and more and more expended,
how can we, with such simplicity, treat time as open-ended?

Should not we be a bit concerned that imploding in our lap
is the very raison de etre: the time to just relax,
to witness the world's wonders and beauty of life sublime?
What a crime, so many waste this precious gift of time.

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