Finite-Time

In the spring of 2020, I was a student in a creative writing course to wrap up two more Associate Degrees. The professor is a close friend of mine and I asked him if we could have my peers answer the following questions using either poetry or prose:

If you knew that your time left on earth was coming to a close, what is the one thing you would absolutely have to do? Why? Who would you take with you? Why? How would you leave your mark?

My professor collected their responses and forwarded them to me anonymously. I was hoping and looking for answers that would help me to answer these questions for myself. Pouring over their responses, I searched for phrases, lines, or even just a single word that spoke to me. And then I read them again, and again. As I wrote the selected phrases down, I realized that my questions were being answered. At the completion of the work, a poem was created and a complete presentation was prepared for the class.

FINITE-TIME

If tomorrow was my last; would you spend it with me? -Joseph

Death is not something you need to think about - Jacob

Draped in a cloudy mist, the snow gently falling - Sean

Fixing the bonds broken - Max

He marches into the snow, away from his old life - Kyle

I am content with the life I have led - anonymous

I’d spend it in peace - Siena

I have felt love and joy and companionship - anonymous

Into the uncertainty of the new - Kyle

It’s time to speak your truth - Nellie

It was just enough - anonymous

I was more ALIVE than most - Jacob

I want more than anything to find love - anonymous

I will [leave] on my own terms - Jonas

I wish to pass some time with these people I’m bound to - Jon

I would love to travel - Kim

I wouldn’t want to have time for sadness or regret - Jason

Let it be known you’re no coward to the wind - Nellie

Let life take me far beyond - Naudia

Life as I knew it was such a ride - anonymous

Live out the rest of my days on the summit - Sean

May I be remembered - John

Remember me; remember me - River

Rules that we can now bend - Elsa

Small pleasures ignored in the past - Naudia

Smoke my last; drink one glass - Naudia

The gift of salvation [is] free - Fernando

The list has a lot of things unchecked - anonymous

To golden sunsets and ice-blue waters - Siena

Two living souls; drawn [back] into themselves - Joseph

[writing] goodbye letters to those I love - Siena

When the cherry blossoms are in bloom - Breannah

With little time left - Siena

You owe it to yourself to go do what needs to be done - anonymous

100-yard Butterfly - Marcel

2020 Shelby GT500 - Jonas

Interestingly, none of the lines from my initial response to those questions made it into "Finite-Time." However, it is one that has been posted in Vocal. here is the link:

https://vocal.media/poets/another-adventure