Time Lived and Time to be Lived

I wrote the following for the Janus Essays contest (www.janusessays.org). Submissions in other creative forms were also accepted, and I felt what I had to say was better suited to free-form poetry. The theme of the contest was "Time Lived and Time to be Lived".

Time Lived and Time to be Lived – Like a Blossom Opening

As the winter departs
the time lived is a faint, cold memory and
the time to be lived is the radiance of spring.
The blanket of snow now gone
reveals a carpet of green grass.
The trees are still skeletons –
their transient state before green ornaments adorn their limbs.
The birds have returned and
red-breasted robins hop about;
their songs wake me from morning sleep.
The crocuses are emerging,
to be followed by daffodils, azaleas, and apple blossoms.

As the apple trees bloom
the time lived are the months since their last bloom
and the time to be lived are the months until their next.
Hues of pink – some shades as vivid as the sunset –
attract bumbling bees who dance in life-advancing pollen.
Petals fall,
tiny fruits swell –
hardly recognizable as Mother Nature’s candy come fall.
A summer thunderstorm,
a summer drought –
both present hardship to the pendant orbs as they size, sweeten, and color.
Meticulous care and attention will ensure that most make their way
to fall fruition,
transformed from tree décor to fulfilling harvest for farmer and consumer alike.

Memory has it that
the time lived were cycles around the harvest at home amidst family
when the time to be lived was still an open book in which
many could inscribe but only I could illustrate.
Inspiration was taken from blessings which surrounded.
The sun rose in a different place then –
from behind jagged peaks, its accent unhurried as if
slowed by dew-laden air.
I may never have come to know this time of day
when nocturnal animals retire,
had it not been for the life into which I was born.
A family spirited by long hours of gratifying work in the sun’s domain,
the earth cycling on its axis and in its orbit.
A family rooted literally in its livelihood and figuratively in its history in that place.
A family spirited by the love, peace, and hope from One and one another –
inter-connected like a spider’s web.
Yes, indeed, from this I drew my inspiration.

Now in this place
the time lived means nothing unless
used to inspire and cultivate the time to be lived.
A world uncertain in safety and security,
it takes a certain optimism, a certain hope to see that these do not conquer.
Yet, so small,
how can I make a difference?
Petals fall to issue fruit;
care must be taken to ensure an environment conducive to
these things that many take for granted but others wish to have.
Clean water, air, and soil to nourish body and crop – these are within my realm and
beyond my realm.
These could be my contribution so that
the time lived does not hinder the time to be lived.
Beyond early mornings amidst family, imminent springs to subsequent falls,
beyond pink petals, red fruit, and
a red robe with much pomp and circumstance,
the time to be lived goes beyond me to a community of world and nature.
The time to be lived is like a blossom opening.