“Time” by Dudley Stone

Time

BBC voices tell me science (so far)
cannot be demonstrated to exist, cannot
be nailed down, at least not like
God-given laws, even if we don’t
live up to or even believe them. 

Maybe so. Maybe time is just
a sign that tells you this door
is for men or women
or both or neither
like that will make you feel
less lost. 

So when you’re alone in a wilderness
with nothing to keep you company
but your own wandering tracks, your own scat,
your own likeness in a muddy watering hole,
thinking the future has passed you by 

and you come upon a rope-and-plank bridge
over a dried-up stream called Before and After
guarded by trolls
you comfort yourself with the thought
that most bridges go nowhere you care about
and are easily gone around.

Dudley Stone

Dudley Stone’s poetry has recently appeared in Ars Sententia, Corvus, and Wilderness House Literary Review. In addition, his writing for the stage has been seen in theaters from California to Connecticut, and he is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild. He has a B.A. in Theatre from the University of Kentucky and studied playwriting at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Stone lives in Lexington, Kentucky.

Headshot: Stephanie Mojica

Photo Credit: Staff