You Can’t Trick Time
What happens when you try to outrun time? A story of greed, memory, loss, and the truth that nothing can replace the heart.
“Precum vremea închisă zămisleşte visuri spăimîntoase…”
(“As closed weather births frightful dreams…”) - Petre Ispirescu
You Can’t Trick Time
You can’t trick time.
You can’t trick greenness.
Your neighbour’s lawn is just a marketing lie.
Joe found the time machine to trick us all.
He got on it and travelled far, far away,
to another galaxy where time dripped slowly,
so slowly…
And there he is: the king.
He has all the delights of the universe he wants,
food, cars, castles, young nymphs, Eiffel Towers, Roland Garros.
He has fame, money, power,
he’s the boss, worshipped like a Greek god.
The true heavens: forever young, forever loved.
Then one day, he saw
the picture of his friends,
his mom and dad,
his girlfriend.
He remembered:
"That was me!
I forgot who I am!"
Everything he left came to his heart.
He quivered, trembled, and felt a cadaveric stillness
freezing his face, his limbs, and the heart within him.
Paralysis, and a tiredness like a chained slave
on a Roman galley crossing the heart of the ocean.
Tired as a gladiator in the 12th round.
Cassius Clay in the last second.
A teardrop melted his aching soul.
All his memory came back:
"What have I done?
I left everything that mattered to me
just to have a false life that I don’t care about,
comfort instead of truth.
Washed-out sweetness over raw taste,
I betrayed myself.
I closed myself in a jail of my own choosing,
thinking life is the life of my ego,
forgetting the love of my heart!
Fast! I must return!"
He came at full speed
in his capsule.
He came alone, as he left.
Twenty-six he was a hundred years ago.
Twenty-six he remains to this day,
Forever youthful and handsome,
But his old world had died.
Father, mother, friends,
everything that warmed his heart was gone.
Only dust.
He was utterly alone.
Nothing to come back to.
Nothing to go to in his greener world.
He hopped back in the capsule
and pressed the red button:
"Eternal sleep!
Here we go!"
Quicker than thought,
Faster than wind,
all white hair, all over,
muscles melted, loose skin, drooping face.
He grew old in a second, or maybe less.
Then a last thought passed through his mind
before the eternal black curtain was drawn over his eyes:
"You cannot trick time.
The lawn may be greener outside, but only on its face.
Inside, it is hollow.
Don’t betray yourself and go where your heart tells you to go.
Don’t listen to the glittering lies, fake gems of the world.
There are meaningless.
Don’t forget who you are,
and live your time with the chosen of your heart.
Never chase youth without age.
Never seek life without death."
Welcome! I’m Alex, the voice behind Two One Zero.
I write with passion, sometimes satirical, sometimes poetic, sometimes deeply spiritual. My aim is simple: to connect, to provoke thought, and maybe even to spark a smile.
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