Just Give Me Time

I never saw my purse again, nor did the others,
when the thief stole them from our office
one Friday payday afternoon.
But would you believe, about a week later,
my keys and my wallet, minus the cash, arrived in the mail,
together with my driver’s license and some precious photos.
All had been soaked, the photo dearest to me
hopelessly ruined -- that hurt the most!
Meanwhile, we had changed the locks,
and I had also obtained a replacement driver’s license.

Next to the photos, what did I miss most?
In that wallet, I used to carry a paper tag to a teabag string.
There were little clever sayings on those tags,
some light-hearted, some quite serious.
This particular one I had probably carried around
for, I don’t know, maybe four or five years.
For all I know, it might be famous, but I haven’t seen it
anywhere else. Is it anonymous? I recall its words:
You’ll never have more time. You have, and
always have had, all there is.

So now, when you so earnestly say to me,
I’ll do it, I promise. Just give me time,
and I smile and say: OK, sure,
trying really hard to believe you,
my thoughts go back to the theft and the losses
that day, and all the others since.
Maybe that little tag wasn’t really stolen after all
because I realize that I can’t do
the single most important thing in this world:
Though I can force myself to be patient and wait if I must,
I’m just not the giver of time, to anybody.

your poems are always worth the time.

John, thanks -- you really, really made my day!
Monica

Though I can force myself to be patient and wait if I must,
I’m just not the giver of time, to anybody.


Hey Miss Monica Mack -
Nice one! I like how you ended it very much.

Pamme

Dear Pamme:

It's so nice to hear from you and glad you liked "Just Give Me Time."

I am still bumbling and fumbling my way around, though, even with the new and improved version (which eventually even I will probably learn to navigate smoothly).

Please tell me: Where is my poem now? The notation says it's been moved, but it doesn't say where. (Sorry to give you the trouble, but I'm really curious.)

Best wishes,

Monica

It looks like it's in The Special Collection

Interesting. free-form poetic narrative. A bit short on the emotion front, very calculated and cerebral.

Dear Mme. Moderator Pamme:

You are right! What a surprise! This is one I never thought would get that far -- I'm truly delighted.

I want to extend my thanks to YOU and all at Drytear for taking the time and doing the hard work to make it even more enjoyable for the rest of us.

Monica

Dear Oscar Wilde:

Many thanks for your favorable -- and interesting -- comments on "Just Give Me Time." I do appreciate them all!

Monica

Having never of read very much poetry in my life, this one is a little different for me.

But I still really enjoyed it.

Dear LAME:
Thanks so much for your positive reaction to "Just Give Me Time." I'm glad you enjoyed it. For someone who never "read very much poetry" in your life, you're writing exceptionally well indeed -- I checked your poetry, and it's really really good!
Monica

Getting your purse stolen is a royal bummer. In my case, I never got anything back. That included:
Expensive cosmetics, perfume, a real neat and expensive cash wallet, hair brush, not to mention the expensive purse, and $85 in cash. The thief was most likely a crack head. He managed to steal $500 on a gas credit card that was cancelled. Go figure. Then he got into my checking account for $300 cash. I think they also tried to steal my identity as well.
Your purse was probably thrown in an open dumpster. Be thankful you got some of your stuff back.

Dear tgbrendaj:
I didn't see your posting until now on April 13! Embarrassing! Please forgive me for not replying sooner, especially when you related such a terrible event.

I agree -- you really had an awful, hellish experience!!! I do empathize with you. Compared to what you underwent, I had a very easy time of it.

However, that episode was not the only time my family and I were victims. My mother, my sister and I were all mugged while walking on the street keeping low profiles.

My poor sister, first day out after a very serious illness (her temperature had been almost 106 degrees and she nearly died), was walking on a bright Sunday afternoon with my mother and me after we had inspected a prospective new apartment (we took it, by the way). She was mugged, her purse and IDs stolen, right on the street, and she was shoved to the ground (luckily grassy ground) with so much force that the bruises lasted almost a year. Interestingly, we later got a phone call a few hours later that some lady had found her purse, and we retrieved it several blocks away. The cash (small sum) was gone, and the contents were disturbed. What was missing besides the cash? Some colorful and interesting-looking pills, which we HOPE the muggers heartily consumed -- they were diuretics. As for the payday theft in my poem, it was supposed to be the intro, just a description of how I lost the tea bag tag. We were all stunned (and grateful) when the soaked wallet arrived in the mail, postmarked from a department store a few blocks away from where the theft took place.
Thank you again, and please excuse this long delay!
Monica

I like this and I can't discribe why....

Dear Nyx:

Thank you for liking "Just Give Me Time" no matter what the reason! I appreciate it.

Best regards,

Monica

i agree with john whole heartedly...your poems are always worth the time

to many this will be an insiteful poem...one they will come to remember for what it is, an insiteful look at the way we should all think

not everyone has the imagination to "think" things through...another leason i took away from this page...

your poem brought back many memories to me especially when i think of all the ways "things" can be stolen from us all and how we should learn from them

thank you for that

sundry:)

i once started a thread on time where i enjoined other members of a club of which i belonged to think about time
unfortunetely i did not save the replies but i did save the original thoughts (the original thought in terms of what was origenally written...heh...i can't imagine that this was an original thought in any other way:))

set it
find it
end it
love it
pass it
hate it
leave it
dread it
waste it
cancel it
look at it
wait for it
schedule it
measure it
treasure it
hear about it
it can be bad
it can be ours
it can be mine
it can be good
it can be yours
we can spend it
we can ignore it
and run out of it
it can stare at us
know it's warped
it can take forever
it can pass too quickly
it belongs to no one
it can pass slowly
we will never see it
we can see what it is
it can be very special
have differences in it
or it can be everyones
we can look forward to it
you can have it day and night
and what would music be without it

I can give you mine
you can give yours
you can know what it is and tell me

we can enjoy what we have of it
but we do not have more than we do

Dear sundry:
I am so happy to have received such positive observations from YOU about this poem because I'm a little bit in awe of you. I wrote it one day in a few minutes, and I have to confess that what I wrote didn't even stay in my mind till I re-read it, and I thereby "wasted time" (one of the few actions or inactions I didn't see on your otherwise comprehensive list). Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Also, that delightful list of the things we can do with time and time can do with us -- I've never seen anything like it before! I think it's great!

The Internet and time seem to go together. When I first encountered references to "real time" in speeches by IT people I was editing, I realized that there can be more than one definition, more than one concept of time. What was it Poe wrote, something like: "... in a wild weird clime that lies sublime out of space, out of time"? (I think I probably made a mistake in this quotation, but it goes around in my mind a good deal.)

I REALLY appreciate your praise, especially on such a windy and hectic day (health AND computer problems combined)!

Best regards,

Monica