presence – radical druid

What It Is

Published on July 15, 2025

What it is will never be what was.
What it will be is never what is.
What it was can never be what is.
What it is can never come to pass.
What it will be won’t become what was.
What it was is not what’s yet to come.
What it is cannot be what it is.
What it will be doesn’t know what was.
What it was is not what used to be.

What it is can only be what is.
What will be can only be what might.
What it was can only be what was.

What it is won’t ever be what might.
What will be won’t ever be what can’t.
What it was won’t ever be what didn’t.

What it is will never be what is.
What it is will never be what will.
What it is will never be what was.

What is now is all of what there is.
What is here is all there ever was.

15 JUL 2025

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The Time Not Now: villanelle

Published on July 14, 2025

The time not now will never come to pass.
What is born here today, this day will die.
All this that is was never built to last.

The past does not go slow, nor future fast,
yet both what is and was confuse the eye.
The time not now will never come to pass.

Enjoy this moment’s rich and full repast,
its laughter, tears, brief hours and gentle sighs.
All this that is was never built to last.

The flags for yesterday don’t fly half mast,
nor need us wringing hands with woeful cries.
The time not now will never come to pass.

There is no back and forth, the die is cast.
What you know now is all you’ll realize.
All this that is was never built to last.

There just time to focus on this task,
not what waits in your wheelhouse by-and-by.
All this that is was never built to last.
The time not now will never come to pass.

14 Jul 2025

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Be Here Now, Or Don’t Be

Published on July 25, 2024

Think about this, now:
being here right here, there is no
being somewhere else.
What you “want” doesn’t matter;
wish in one hand, as they say.

If you choose elsewhere
as the place where you must be,
you’re not here at all.
And where does that choice leave you?
Just where did you leave yourself?

Take a minute to check:
you’re either right here and now,
or you’re not, at all.
If you think too long about it,
you’ve wasted another now.

25 JUL 2024

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The Presence of Today

Published on July 24, 2017

We either seek to view the world today
through some past generation’s worn and tired lens,
or try to filter what is past and gone
with some new, modern sensibility.

In either case, the picture loses sense;
we only see with skewed perception what we like:
a world that suits our purposes as is,
or one that our reforming might make right.

And while we fight and scrape to prove our case,
what happens to the time that is?
The Now, the only time that is, is lost
and gone before we live its span.

What is the point of living in denial?
The world is what it is; each second’s span
is neither from the future or the past.
It slips away like water in your hand,

and your contention neither gives nor takes
a jot of weight to yesterday’s long gone
nor to tomorrow’s not yet been
if you neglect the presence of today.

24 JUL 2017

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Let Loose: hir a thoddaid

Published on March 29, 2017

Let loose the chains that bind you to the past;
though they restrict, they cannot hold you fast.
The future is not set; no die is cast.
Whatever plans and schemes you make, don’t last;
tomorrow’s rain and sun mind no forecast.
What is to come, will come, no matter what;
a shut door cannot slow storms so vast.

29 MAR 2017

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This is the Morning: gwawdodyn

Published on March 27, 2017

This is the morning of the first day;
nothing much remains of yesterday
except some dust in the clay on the wheel,
a flew flecks of shadow in the gray.

This is the morning of moving on;
what happens now is already gone,
chaff on today’s mown lawn blown by a breeze
that has no memory of the dawn.

This is the morning of here and now;
in past soil turned under by the plow
its seeds take hold, somehow, and make their way.
No pause for reminisce is allowed.

This is the morning of the new day;
what can remain of yesterday,
except the faint scent of decay that hangs
above fragrant, new blooms as they sway?

This is the morning of what will be;
let all yesterday’s visions go free.
What good their subtlety to you today?
Past boldness provides no guarantee.

27 MAR 2017

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What Happens Next

Published on March 13, 2017

What makes reality
ever so puzzling
that vain attempting to
just pin it down
becomes a deception
ensnared in illusion,
naught but a fleeting smile
behind a frown?

What then of fantasy?

Will we think ecstasy
merely a distraction
from duty and will?

How can mere utility
evolve a society
whose fleeting passions live
only in dream?

What is reality?

Now and not yesterday,
wrapped in the presence of
what happens next.

13 MAR 2017

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Tag: presence

What It Is

The Time Not Now: villanelle

Be Here Now, Or Don’t Be

The Presence of Today

Let Loose: hir a thoddaid

This is the Morning: gwawdodyn

What Happens Next