the future hangs over
everything I do
like a weight
an anvil, say
around my neck
or a cloud
a rain cloud
overhead
like some cartoon character
moving quickly forward
while a storm brews
the weight slowing my scurrying
toward shelter
though there is no shelter
apparent to me
on this, or any, horizon
oh well
what else to do
but stumble on
going forward
toward what can only be called
an uncertain future
the only place left
to go

When a friend starts on a journey of a thousand miles,
As he is about to leave, he delays again and again.
When men part, they feel they may never meet again.
When a year has gone, how will you ever find it again?
I wonder where it has gone, this year that is ended?
Certainly someplace far beyond the horizon.
It is gone like a river which flows to the East,
And empties into the sea without hope of return.
My neighbors on the left are heating wine.
On the right they are roasting a fat pig.
They will have one day of joy
As recompense for a whole year of trouble.
Will we leave so carelessly the years to come?
Everything passes, everything
Goes, and never looks back,
And we grow older and less strong.

translated by Kenneth Rexroth

It seems the fiercest love is no love at all, in the end.
Sipping wine together, we feel nothing now but absent

smiles. Candles, at least, still have hearts. They grieve
over goodbye, cry our tears for us until dawn-lit skies.

translated by David Hinton

were made
in twilight
difficult to keep
at midnight
broken
by dawn

Chuck says
when we were younger
it was sort of a whimsy
to think of time passing
before we shrugged it off
and moved on with our day
now it’s a reality
fleeting has a new meaning
and each day
each moment
a new significance
there is nothing quite like
these Saturday morning conversations
to remind one
of things one cannot overlook
anymore
so it’s Judy Collins
on the stereo
which prompted that comment
and wine this early
in the morning
and the hell with time
let it pass
there’s laundry to do
some food shopping
buy a steak to eat
with eggs for breakfast
tomorrow morning
and dare that specter
to try anything funny
with me today