Time

I

A world sailing on the brink of disaster, burning through its coal and oil, leaving six degrees of rising seas and searing heat for its kids

Now slowly wakes up and sees where it's going and jams the brakes, turns the rudder, pours all its anxiety and some of its money to changing direction and slowing the apocalypse

But have we been too slow? Have we missed the chance to save the planet?  If we really want we can bring ourselves to stop at two degrees, but we have to move faster, much faster

II

A great nation wasted precious decades, letting its children grow up in want while wanting much, immersed in examining its own fingernails while the world surged ahead 

Now it looks up suddenly, puts on its glasses, sees how far it has to go and tries with all sincerity to sprint and make up the distance lost 

But it has to build its muscle as it runs and it has no time for rest days and warm ups 

And the world watches admiringly yet apprehensively, with sports drinks and wet towels in hand at pit stops 

Can it make up the lost laps, can it do justice by its growing children's needs? Sure it can, but it has to run faster than it ever has, much faster 

III

As mid life beckons, as one's children grow taller than us and seem to have far more sense than we had at their age, or even have now in many ways 

As the hours days weeks months slip by and you realise you have become and are living the dreams and aspirations that powered you all your life

Then fulfilling those dreams isn't enough and you know you have to do, right here, right now, everything that you were built to do, make the difference you were meant to make, leave in the real world all the good you can leave, because there isn't all the time in the world, and every moment matters, and you have to work faster, much faster