Time and the narrow window of now

Fleeting time

“Time keeps on slipping, slipping, slipping into the future”… *

The future, always skipping farther ahead of the past.

And in-between there’s the narrow window of the Now.

The moment of Now, however fleeting, the only moment that is alive,

For the past reality is a given,

whereas the future, yet to come, is undefined.

Be in the moment, be fully conscious,

and observe how the Now keeps moving forward, from now, to now, to now,

not only for us but for everything that exists, has existed, or just will.

Does it make more sense to say: plan for the past, during the Now,

than for the unknown future where everything can change?

For the past will hold the things you did,

and the future what you maybe, 

just maybe may achieve.

But the past also defines some of the future, beyond the Now.

Remember that many of the parts you’re made of,

themselves were made 14 billion years ago: You are stardust from the past.**

Sacred stardust. You are meant to keep the candle burning,

through all the Now’s that you may live,

and when the flame is finally gone

we will see, in full, the magnificent past you have created, 

to learn from in the new Now, and in the future, until it’s our turn to become the past.

* Steve Miller band: Fly like an eagle (1976)

** A liberal assessment because the heavier components of dust were formed later in stellar explosions.

Read at the Naked Poetry event on 11-4-2026

©2026 Rob Millenaar