The Time Thief

There’s this man I’ve come to know

he stops each day to say hello

he stays for just a little while

with gentle voice and ready smile.

The Time Thief’s taken quite a lot

so many things now he’s forgot;

and though he still recalls the past

he isn’t sure what he did last.

His lovely wife arrived here first

and he, for better or for worse

came to join her, followed suit—

unhappy, yes,  but resolute.

 He struggles now to understand

this place he’d never thought he’d land.

His voice grows quiet, fades away…

forgetting what he wants to say.

a shadow furrows his thin brow,

then he returns to here and now.

He smiles, then he says “goodbye”

and turns to leave without reply.

The Time Thief watches from the wings,

knowing that he pulls the strings.

He lies in wait to take away

all that we would do or say.

He scrambles thoughts and spits them out

and he is, without a doubt,

the worst threat to the elderly

…unable to just let them be.

Yet for moment on this day,

we held the evil thief at bay.

© Ginny Brannan 2018