Nicolas Greenwood

Time

Cruel is time because
When darkness falls, that day cannot return
When tears fall, they are fallen forever
Because blood, when spilled, remains not in the body
Because memories are not the same as reality
Cruel is time.

Cruel is time because
Where death has passed, life does not follow
Because the past is something that doesn’t exist
And everything we see — vanishes and vanishes!1
Every moment is a passing moment
Cruel is time.

Merciful is time because
When wind blows, it blows in gusts.
Because in the same day the sun shines on both sides of
the sky.
Because it gives us an end before
Life becomes long and bitter.
Merciful is time.

Merciful is time because
neither good nor evil become eternal.
Because tears, when they fall, fall — and dry up.
And time gives beauty her crown,
because beauty, when fleeting, is only more beautiful.
Merciful is time.


This is a translation of a poem originally written in Serbian. Check out the original here.

Time

About This Poem

As the first poem I have ever written originally in Serbian, this piece will always be special to me.

This poem is less about the swiftness of time and more about its irreversibility. Not long before writing it, I had spent some time learning about our best physical theories and understandings of what time actually is. While that question remains largely unanswered, one thing is certain: time moves linearly in a positive direction, and it does not seem obvious that we will ever find a way to reverse it.

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