"Buying Time" - the only poem I've written in song format

Buying Time

By Adrienne Clark

November 2007


Just a boy of seventeen,
Wanders streets and wonders:
When to work?
—his little sister,
When to care?
—his drunken mother,
Time for school?
—save for another,
No time for that right now...


Chorus:

[Past to Monday, 
Back to Sunday,
Pass us by, 
So stealthy, sly.
 
Time should be free, 
But it is not,
Sometimes borrowed, 
Most is bought,
Too often stolen, 
Never enough,
 
Let's all go earn some money,
And buy our own free time...]
 
Woman works, PTSA,
Drives the kids to soccer.
Takes a call
—her mother cries,
Hospital
—her father lies,
Print one more file
—then she arrives,
Too late, took too much time...
 
Chorus
 
Father of his little princess,
Work then home to playtime.
Lose the job
—contract position,
For months he's gone
—then graduation,
His gifts to her
—now just tuition
He lost the precious times...
 
Chorus
 
Years of all our lives go by,
We blindly take for granted.
Life will come
—first earn some money,
Miss one beat
—it's only funny,
All crashes down
—assumptions running,
Too late we see the meaning:
That pay can't sub for being...
 
For once forget the money,
And spend the precious time...