On Time

And an astronomer said, Master, what of Time?

And he answered:

You would measure time the measureless

and the immeasurable.

You would adjust your conduct and

even direct the course of your spirit

according to hours and seasons.

Of time you would make a stream upon

whose bank you would sit and watch its

flowing.

Yet the timeless in you is aware of

life’s timelessness,

And knows that yesterday is but today’s

memory and tomorrow is today’s dream.

And that that which sings and

contemplates in you is still dwelling

within the bounds of that first moment

which scattered the stars into space.

Who among you does not feel that his

power to love is boundless?

And yet who does not feel that very

love, though boundless, encompassed

within the centre of his being, and

moving not from love thought to love

thought, nor from love deeds to other

love deeds?

And is not time even as love is,

undivided and paceless?

But if in your thought you must measure

time into seasons, let each season

encircle all the other seasons,

And let today embrace the past with

remembrance and the future with longing.