And the time sundials tellMay be minutes and hours. But it may just as wellBe seconds and sparkles, or seasons and flowers.No, I don't think of time as just minutes and hours.Time can be heartbeats, or bird songs, or miles,Or waves on a beach, or ants in their files(They do move like secondsjust watch their feet go:Tick-tick-tick, like a clock). You'll learn as you growThat whatever there is in a garden, the sunCounts up on its dial. By the time it is doneOur sundialor someone's will certainly addAll the good things there are. Yes, and all of the bad.And if anyone's here for the finish, the sunWill have told himby sundialhow well we have done.How well we have done, or how badly. Alas,That is a long thought. Let me hope we all pass.
About This Quote
About John Ciardi
John Ciardi was a 20th-century American poet, professor, translator. John Anthony Ciardi was an American poet, translator, and etymologist. While primarily known as a poet and translator of Dante's Divine Comedy, he also wrote several volumes of children's poetry, pursued etymology, contributed to the Saturday Review as a columnist and long-time poetry editor, directed the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference in Vermont, and recorded commentaries for National Public Radio. Read more on Wikipedia →
Themes
- Time — Reflections on the passage of time and how we spend it