In the number equation,
iT is more variable than the fabled
Seven stages of a man’s life.
iT is Fortune’s best friend,
An eternal curse, to a Sorrow
Prolonged
iT is Joy’s soul mate,
An anathema to Pain,
And poison to Anxiety
Relish iT when you have iT
For iT yields to no mortal’s control
Time belongs to Eternity
Eternity alone owns Time
Today, you are rich,
Courted by all and sundry;
By the beautiful, the dainty,
The cultured, the sophisticated,
The dark-brown skinned, colour of the Bethlehem prince,
The pink skinned, colour of the leper,
The red skinned, colour of the tiger
And by the fat, the thin, and
The flat-bottomed twig
Tomorrow, the riches are gone
Position disappears and
Power relocates to the neighbour’s villa
Then, you are alone
Visitors to your gate
Are a rare sight
The rich and the mighty
A rare specie
Your address now unknown
Your phone number
Forgotten.
Time never stops.
Tick-tack tick-tack tick-tack
Pumping, expanding, collapsing,
Pumping, expanding, collapsing
Tick-tack tick-tack tick-tack….
–In soliloquy by Bottomley in *Deaths in the Thighs*
by Tola Adeniyi, Toronto 2000
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