are memories a measurement?

the mouse king nibbles at the moon

until satisfied then sleeps

his servants refill the pantry

and when the mouse king awakens

he begins to nibble again

and we mark the passing of time

 

but does anything really change

with this illusion we call time?

 

back in the days of my early rhymes

i worked in a factory

where i was always wasted while i worked

 

one day i was warned,

“work with wide eyed wonderment

or be fired”

the next morning without intoxication

my mind began its investigation,

“why am i here?”

 

i slipped off my work gloves

laid them on the assembly line

and started the twenty mile walk home

 

almost home

i stopped at the dealership

and bought a sheet of acid

 

i don’t remember the next few days

 

but all of this could have been yesterday

 

if they are called the changing tides

why does the name remain the same?

 

nothing changes

i am what i was

is time an illusion? a lie?

just the way we rationalize?

 

there is and then there isn’t

there is what we are taught

there is what we believe

there is what we deny

 

in short

we choose reality

by what we accept

to be true

from the things we perceive

 

people hope and then they try

and argue that we will learn

how to wrinkle time

before our sun goes supernova

 

instead of joining me and my question,

“why even bother?”

 

and just enjoying the moments

by which we measure

 

***