When Clocks And Calendars Collide
My body clock jogs me awake.
The calendar turns to another day.
Fall sets in in the Western Hemisphere
telling me where and when I am.
My brain obediently responds,
yet my essence is tugged by the magnet of memory.
Genes tussle with mind
over
where I am
where I was
where I should be
where I cannot be.
Wavering temperatures, timidly-coppering leaves, are the here and now.
Monsoon relief and the onset of the festival season are the there and then.
An alarm clock, a BlackBerry’s buzz, a dog’s cold nose, are the here and now.
The cawing of crows, the muezzin’s call, the milkman’s bell, are the there and then.
Suburban solitude, domesticity, neatly-numbered blocks, are the here and now.
Discordant, concordant, flamboyant, triumphant jamborees of sound, color, bustle, dust, life, are the there and then.
Google, Skype, Twitter, Facebook, Amplify, are the here and now.
Saris, street vendors, bangle-sellers, processions, happily homeless dogs and cats, are the there and then.
Husband, pets, my dearest friend an ocean away, growing-dearer friends a phone call away, no one a doorstep away, are the here and now.
Mother, father, brother, sister, aunts, uncles, cousins, all too numerous to count, are the there and then.
I was there then.
I am here now.
I loved it there then.
I love it here now.
I wanted here then.
I miss there now.
I am in both places, no place, some place, which place?
When clocks and calendars collide.
Image: Pinto Alex via Flickr, CC 2.0
[...] We straddle time, cultures, places, people and memories when clocks and calendars collide. calendars – Google Blog Search [...]
[...] may want to subscribe to my RSS feed or Subscribe by Email. Thanks for visiting!Time, space, and how we inhabit the two have been a bit on my mind [...]
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[...] originally published this post when Fall was setting in last year. It didn’t get a lot of attention then, but it remains one [...]