Category Archives: Time

No Longer and Not Yet

No Longer and Not Yet

Stumbling towards Hogmanay
Amidst this year’s dwindling days
We cast a wistful backward glance
And forward through the unknown haze

No longer amenable to change
Those unkind words regretful deeds
The clock refusing to turn back
Too late apologies to plead

Not yet whatever lies ahead
Its promise still to be revealed
Time remains the secret’s guardian
For good or ill our fate concealed

No longer, not yet, a moment’s pause
Straddling calendar’s divide
Accept what’s past, welcome the future
Providence will yet provide

Ken Fisher

 

Summer Solstice 2021

Summer Solstice 2021

A glimpse of sunshine warms our heart
Flowers and leaves reflect the light
The gentle rays caress our brow
Our lips widen with a smile

For now the daytime stretches out
Filling each hour with gentle light
Dark days of winter long forgot
Rejoice again in life outdoors

From this ‘crows nest’ of the year
We scan the horizon fore and aft
Behind, long hours of winter gloom
Then spring pregnant with promise

Ahead the prospect of summer warmth
And autumn’s gold and russet tints
But winter’s spectre lurks beyond
Vaguely threatening summer’s calm

Yet in these years of virus blight
We pray that prospects may turn bright
Gradually those persistent fears subdued
Our hearts once more with hope renewed

Ken Fisher

Clocks Go Back 2020

Clocks Go Back 2020

The days are getting shorter, the nights are drawing in
In no time at all we will arrive at Halloween
Darkness is descending, as we struggle through the gloom
But perhaps this year no guisers draped in their costume

‘Ere we reach that ‘hallowed’ eve the clocks must be turned back
Between Saturday and Sunday an hour they give us back
For last Spring those same clocks were moved an hour forward
To rectify that change now the movement will be rearward

It seems to me this time of year might make you feel depressed
And sometimes negative feelings can be manifest
Some people think this clock change is the harbinger of doom
And thoughts of hibernation fill their hearts with gloom

But most of us will soon accept the changing of the light
Brighter in the morning, then earlier dark at night
Nothing’s really changed, it’s ourselves who’ve played a trick
Tinkering with the clock hands but letting it still tick

So with the changing of the hour we revert to Greenwich Mean
British Summer Time left behind till Spring’s green shoots are seen
But at least we know now where we are, the timing quite official
No fiddling with the hours of day or night, no changes artificial

Of late there has been even greater pressure
Which amidst Brexit could cause great displeasure
Demands that we align with Europe using single and double BST
Unpopular notion for those who from continental shackles would us free

And this year, if politicians don’t soon somehow fix it
We are all confronted with close impending Brexit!
And if that’s not sufficient to put you in a panic
What about the menace of this engulfing pandemic?

But perhaps it isn’t right to conclude on such a sour note
The human spirit is still surely full of hope
Let optimism prevail whatever lies ahead
Starting on Sunday with an extra hour in bed!

Ken Fisher

The Status of God

The Status of God

Did God create man or man create God?
Believers might think that question is odd
They assert that all that there is, their God did provide
A conspicuous truth that can’t be denied

But others proclaim God is mere man’s construction
Of his fertile mind a brilliant production
By using his vivid imagination
The concept of God granted crystallisation

Of these two approaches to the status of God
Perhaps neither of them fundamentally flawed
One side says God existed ere the beginning of time
Others affirm God is man’s timely creation sublime

The faithful declare that from grace mankind did fall
That apple in Eden convicted us all
But what of the view Adam’s sin is not ours?
An unfair indictment, exploitative power

So if man created God, not the other way round
From original sin’s burden we are freely unbound
Yet if we reject God’s salvation by grace
Standing alone, this hostile world we must face

So perhaps the cynic might say we should hedge our bets
In the hope our choice won’t yield any regrets
To Father God hang on, however opaque
Espousing both the God who is true and the one who is fake

Ken Fisher

Winter Solstice 2019

Winter Solstice 2019

The shortest day the longest night
Benighted souls seeking the light
The sun in deepest declination
Darkness shrouds the northern nations

The solstice marks a time of change
From the light we’ve been estranged
For longer days our hearts do yearn
Sunlight surely must return

For in due time by slow progress
Climbing sun will dark suppress
And soon its penetrating rays
Bring lengthening of each day

As the solstice now we mark
Entombed in gloom and shadows dark
Let’s look to brightening days ahead
As returning light becomes widespread

Ken Fisher

From Now On

From Now On

 From Now On…………………!

How often have we said these words?
With resolve and determination
Promising to cast aside the past
Espousing complete transformation

Why wait for Near Year to make a pledge?
For any time in life’s daily course
Will serve as well as any other
Our good intention to endorse

But déjà vu comes into mind
When committing to renewal
How often in days gone past
Has failure struck quite cruel?

‘Cause no matter how sincere
Our stated affirmation
‘Ere long, intention cast aside
Amidst life’s trials and tribulation

But let us as in the spider myth
Our efforts not relinquish
Determined that new life to forge
Past failures we would vanquish

Ken Fisher

Time is of the Essence

Time is of the Essence

Time is of the essence in our contract law
You can’t ignore its steady beat
Or the buyer might withdraw

Time matters when we make a point
Words can inflame or calm
Words ill-timed doomed to disappoint

Time is the fourth dimension
Length, breadth and height the others
Yet time alone eludes our comprehension

Time of our life, our progress down the years
Because time is our life for sure
Present joys tinged with future fears?

‘Time for amendment of life’ as the Prayer Book pleads
Essence of our living captured in each moment
The score of that life the sum of all our deeds?

Ken

Time to Reflect

Time to Reflect

A moment of respite
A reality check
Go into neutral
Take a deep breath
Time to take stock
Hold on just a minute
Let’s simply be
No need to do

Yet as each new day dawns
Challenges to meet
Opportunities to seize
Targets to aim for
Boxes to tick
The urge to compete
No time to be wasted
Success is our creed

Surely there’s more to life?
What’s it all for?
What really matters?
Who pulls the strings?
Find:
Time to pause
Time to chill
Time to ponder
Time to reflect

Ken Fisher

See also: Action & Reflection

Keep on Keeping On

Keep on Keeping On

Keep on keeping on! What do we mean by that?
Perhaps the persistent griping of a little brat
Enough to drive a parent to distraction
Prompting a less than generous reaction

Keep on keeping on! is often no bad thing
When by perseverence we find it brings
The fruits of hard work and determination
An end product yielding great satisfaction

When we are tempted to throw in the towel
In the heat of play, to simply cry foul!
Keeping on amidst dark discouragement
Casting aside all that brings impairment

In days when life seems to have no point
When things conspire to disappoint
Try not to give up midst the gloom
Keep on,  surely change must come soon

So what is the value of keeping on?
Hoping the victory can be won
Those who persist until the end
Justly deserve a dividend

Heed the message of that hare and tortoise
Tenaciously just hold that poise
Consistent all the way along
The prize assured for keeping on!

Ken Fisher

Clocks Go Forward

Clocks Go Forward [Sunday 30 March 2019]

 

The days are getting longer, more light to bring us cheer
Threats of dark stormy winter nights, begin to disappear
Spring has come, our clocks must be advanced
At 2AM we lose an hour that our daylight be enhanced

The loss of that hour surely will be compensated
Afternoon pleasures not so readily truncated
Hobbies and pastimes in the great outdoors
Twilight no longer threatens, more leisure time is ours

As we follow the command that we all now Spring Forward
Just as in October we duly did Fall Backward
Let’s welcome the prospect of summer days ahead
And not regret the loss of one cosy hour in bed

The cycle of the year to our life brings order
Each season occupying its own allotted quarter
The changing of the clock part of that settled plan
Pity they don’t seem to tell our friend the Weatherman!

This year, despite the movement of the clocks Brexit has not advanced
And our politicians continue to wrangle and to rant
Will increased daylight from tomorrow shed more illumination?
And somehow bring consensus to this much fragmented nation

Ken Fisher

The Cumbernauld Clock

The Cumbernauld Clock

I remember well this iconic clock
When strolling past on a lunch-time walk
In the centre of town in Cumbernauld
Whose architecture some critics appalled

I was teaching there in the shiny new college
Hoping to increase the residents’ knowledge
At that time the clock became the locus
On which much attention would then focus

Gregory’s Girl provided worldwide renown
And in Jubilee Year the Queen came to town
The clock features in both these events
As of course did many proud residents

Cumbernauld in the beginning tried to ensure
That pedestrains from traffic were kept quite secure
Converging paths from suburbs approached the top
To then pay homage to that venerable clock

Now the clock is the subject of a tug of war
Twixt the townies and others who would it restore
And move it away to a quite different location
To keep time in newly renovated Queen Street Station

So whatever the fate of this worthy time piece
Of horology no doubt a great masterpiece
I hope it will continue to tick quietly away
As it measures the passing of each welcome new day

Ken Fisher