New Poem – Time is…

 

Time is forever short,

When your world

Can turn in a second.

And everything,

Frail or not,

Be irreversibly

Swept away.

 

Yet, all the while,

Moistened

By a gaze

That’s like

A soothing balm

To any such outcome,

We cannot help

But reach

For comfort,

For purpose, for meaning.

 

Fermenting

An unending aspiration

To make the world

Anew.

 

Which is,

In itself,

A rebellion

Against waste.

 

After all,

From the soiled earth

Fresh flowerings

Will come.

 

And in their

Glorious wake,

A re-energised belief

In redemption,

True beauty.

 

Life seen afresh

In iridescent

Colours of promise,

Long since hewn

From an abandoned sky.

64 Comments

  1. I like the ending.
    The whole poem is very nice.

  2. Jeffrey Patrick Bennett

    As always, Scott, your work is alive, breathing, and arrives with arms both empty and full. Reading this entry is much like joining in warm embrace. There’s an undercurrent, an interior movement here that erodes our resistances. I enjoy the resounding depths of your poems.

  3. Dee

    A beautiful blossom of words for the transition of Springs truth, into Summers blossom of hope and change. Another beautiful piece Scott. Always a pleasure to visualize your imagery through words. TY for another pleasant journey. Enjoy the Summer!

  4. It is so wonderful to read a poem of hope and affirmation in such times as these. I love your closing lines especially…..that abandoned sky………well said, Scott!

  5. Bonnie J. Toomey

    Hello, Scott.
    This poem brings my immortality, hope and redemption to the fore and I couldn’t help but think of my garden replete with all of these themes. Lyrical and natural, honest and quietly free and much needed at a moment when truths like this are needed more than ever.

  6. Laura

    Beautiful poem once again and yes we never know where life will take us but with fortitude and faith the withered flowers will blossom again becoming brighter with each passing year

  7. Laura Bailey

    A beautiful song of redemption and love. Greatly needed in this crazy locked down world.
    Thank you Scott so much for sharing the brightness of your vision.

  8. Excellent poem! Really love the closing stanza . . .

    Life seen afresh
    In iridescent
    Colours of promise,
    Long since hewn
    From an abandoned sky.

  9. Your faith in love, action, effort, and courage are beautifully elucidated and lyrically rendered.
    Well done, Scott.

  10. Dominic M. Windram

    Beautiful poems Scott! In its own way, it is perhaps an oasis in a vast cultural desert. Indeed it is, ‘ A rebellion/ Against waste.’

  11. Dominic M. Windram

    Sorry…should be singular: poem..beautiful poem!

  12. William Bain

    Thanks for writing. I like what you’ve done
    with ‘Time is…’. Its very timely and full of hope.
    At the same time showing awareness of what
    we as sapiens must hope against. But you
    have given us so many strands woven to-
    gether into a realness, brightened by the
    importance of staying up.

  13. Maxim Chernikov

    Thank you for sharing! I have a lot of difficulties now, but at the first opportunity I am always happy to see new things in the work of old friends
    .
    With heartfelt warmth,

    Maxim

  14. Mahnaz Mohafez

    Dear Scott,

    In this poem I clearly read a message of hope. You painted the dark sky of our time with bright colors of happiness and love. Thank you!

  15. Scott, this is such an impressive piece. I had to read it aloud. It brings me to that hopeful place I all too often forget about. And the structure of this! It is a ladder, each line another rung that I could not help but climb.

  16. Sunaina

    Nice one .

  17. The most striking thing here are the lines And in their

    Glorious wake,

    A re-energised belief

    In redemption,

    True beauty.

    Life seen afresh

    In iridescent

    Colours of promise,

    Long since hewn

    From an abandoned sky.

    Hastie hits on the need for redemption which is in us all and cuts through all the minutae that brudens hearts.

  18. Barbara Kasey Smith

    Scott, your writing tempted this reader’s imagination with darkness and then the light, beauty, of a world we live in.Excellence!

  19. Nice and rejuvenating! Soothing…kind of like a healing balm for a wounded world..

  20. Bonnie Roberts

    The poem today reflects so much of what I am feeling and going through right at this moment. Time is short and always is, as you say. And that sense of the possibility of everything going awry, well, it becomes more and more possible all the time. I have been in touch with the possibility of momentary change and disaster my whole life, but now, world-wide this not only seems possible, but is. I love the way you end your poem with the new flowers growing beneath the soil and all the positive images. What else can we do but walk on and walk on and knowing, in the poetic heart and spirit, that those flowers are there beneath the soil. A moving piece, and maybe one of my favorites. May you continue to write and share your poetry!

  21. Rebecca O’Donnell

    Scott Hastie’s beautiful Poetry is always a soothing balm which we all need, especially in the madness of modern day. There’s both wisdom and grace in his writings, and depending on my soul’s need, it envelopes me like warm sunshine or a gentle rain, washing away all the strife and tension and helping find my center again. His Word Art is, and always has been, genius.

  22. Tapan Kumar Ghosh

    Thank you so much for sharing this poem.

  23. Shari Roberts

    You are so gifted! Keep shining your brilliant light.

  24. James Linnane

    I love the poem though I am more of a pessimist in reality well written nicely worded

  25. Love the thread of hope running throughout

    Thanks for inviting me to read your poem Scott

    (✿◠‿◠)

    much love…

  26. Jt Smith

    Time is shortened by mere action not acute observations as such. i try to notice beauty in various forms. your modern introspection is like a soft blanket that cools our aches and woes. i realize that mortality seems to quicken whenever we ignore its gift. it feels as though our mortal coil becomes a rather tedious analogy after too many mistakes. we all rise with the elevating stars and swim with the moon’s shadow. Thanks for upholding the torch of hope and remembrance. we need more artists like Mr. Hastie to discover.

  27. Hi Scott,

    enjoyed reading your piece.

    Beautiful lines.

    After all,
    From the soiled earth
    Fresh flowerings
    Will come.

    Regards,
    Pushkar

  28. Sharmishtha Basu

    So full of true beauty and hope. Gestures and words when they come from heart can transform worlds!

  29. If only more people would appreciate the beauty all around us including of course reading others writing of poetry and stories.

  30. Rommy

    I love the the idea of purposeful and joyful living as an act of rebellion. This made my morning.

  31. Time is forever short, indeed. But I like how hope is conveyed in your poem, with things to bloom from the “soiled earth”. We need to believe that. Thank you for sharing your uplifting words.

  32. I especially like the concept of a rebellion against waste!

  33. “Fermenting
    An unending aspiration
    To make the world
    Anew.

    Which is,
    In itself,
    A rebellion
    Against waste.”

    I love those two stanza so much, Scott. They are perfect for this time, a reminder that things can get better if we fight to make them so. The phrase “a rebellion / against waste” will stay with me for a very long time.

  34. The colours of promise are a rainbow in the sky. It’s wonderful to believe in redemption.

  35. Beautiful, Scott. Nature reassures of if we but stay aware.

  36. Life can certainly turn on a dime and mine seems to do it at warp speed. We must cling to something more than the parade of misery.

  37. Helen

    Scott, this is gorgeous … approaching 80 this Fall, I appreciate how life can and probably will turn on that darned dime!

  38. Jan Marquat

    Lovely poem.

  39. Fermenting and balm stand out for me and go well together.

  40. Katy Jiang

    Dear Scott,

    I almost cried over your poem. You wouldn’t believe how it soothes a sensitive heart. It’s a keeper. It inspires me for some art.

  41. Neena Sharma

    Oh…Enjoyed every bit of your new poetic Marvel…So uplifting!

    The following verse really touched me, Scottie sir.


    After all,

    From the soiled earth

    Fresh flowerings

    Will come.

    And in their

    Glorious wake,

    A re-energized belief

    In redemption,

    True beauty.”

    Yes indeed…Life is short and with a recent spate of Crisis after crisis , with Death Knells ringing everywhere, it makes us ponder What is this life rife with so much of strife and uncertainties around, can we really see our life making a beeline on the path to Happiness, especially in Light of the current scenario of World Crisis, The Killer Pandemic?!

    Your lovely poem springs Pearl Of Hope, dear Scottie sir.
    Hope to see the new Dawn of the day as promised by you, through your wonderful creative piece…The current insurmountable problems soon to become evanescent like a drop of dew, to enjoy life in different hues; By the end of our sojourn…

    Thank You for the lovely Gift!
    Congrats Once again…

    With Fond Regards
    Neena

  42. Indeed life is short but poetry like this is eternal. Excellent work, Scott as always. You never fail to inspire us with your word craft. I love this poem.

  43. Paul Bowles

    So true, and poignant in Canada at this time. “Fermenting an unending aspiration to make the world anew.”
    I love “iridescent colours of promise,” but the whole poem is so simply and nicely crafted. A Hastie gem. Thank you for it. Paul.

  44. Dear Scott, you wrap the reader in a cloak of renewal, regeneration and the promise of things to come. Positivity is nurturing, relative to its genuine delivery and the inspiration that envelops the mind and spirit through its heartfelt engagement. From a year now past where so many have felt thoroughly disengaged, a dire separation that cries for a return to normalcy, and the reason to believe in what the future has to hold, your gentle stroke of the pen is truly timely in this regard.

    Thank you as always for delighting with the beauty and elevation of your words, my friend.

  45. I am always hopeful of this one:

    Fresh flowerings

    Will come.

    Happy summer!

  46. I think this year especially we’ve seen how quickly everything can change. Lovely poem, Scott.

  47. I love the hopefulness here. Echoes what I was trying to say, but much more eloquently!

  48. Colours of promise,
    Long since hewn
    From an abandoned sky

    Love the close Scott! One cant help but be expecting and hopeful of blessings which often side-stepped those caught in a web of hopelessness.

    Hank

  49. Your poetry always runs deep. It always hangs on to hope when it all seems so lost. In the last year we have all learned how quickly our lives can change. Your words bring calmness to the soul.

  50. When the tears of resignation can be repurposed to a rainbow it’s a good day. You laid out this idea so beautifully, Scott.

  51. I think your opening stanza will resonate with many people around the world right now. I think about these things a lot. I love the turn towards optimism and the idea of the world being made anew!

  52. Ya gotta believe. Thanks for sharing the colors of it, we comb them into our day. – B

  53. This is such a poem of both comfort and hope. We need both in the world right now.

  54. Esther Sommer

    I Think we all need something “glorious” in this time of making ends meet for ouselves, and also for those we have taken responsibility for. Yet there are in fact things that cannot be “swept away” so easily. Don’t we fight for Love in order to make it last? To make it outlast Time, this cruel old dragon? Don’t we fight against the traces of time when we discover wrinkels or grey hairs? Not just to give “comfort” to ourselves, but also to a loving partner? It’s very encouraging that you call hope and endurance a “rebellion against waste”. Yet, isn’t the earth too “soiled” by the traces of human frailties? Here Time can be not the destroyer, but the healer. As it is said in an Old English elegy: That (good time) passed, this (present bad time) will also be over sooner or later. (“Thisses overeode, swylches mag swa overgan.”)

    I am pretty certain that you had the ‘rose’ in mind when you speak of the “fresh flowerings.” Aren’t they especially beautiful this year? Swift calls it “the glory of our morn” in his ‘Ode to Dr William Sancroft.’

    So, dear Scott, I hope that I am not mistaken when I detect this kind of “purpose” and “meaning” in your poem. Thanks for sharing!

  55. Shawna

    “A rebellion
    Against waste.”

    “in their
    Glorious wake,
    A re-energised belief
    In redemption”

    “Life seen afresh
    In iridescent
    Colours of promise,
    Long since hewn
    From an abandoned sky.”

    My favorites

  56. A clean sweep. I think I feel comforted.

  57. It appears the ephemeral moment is on so many poets minds – and pens – these days, and so clearly expressed here ~

  58. Loved this poem Scott, these lines really resonated with me:

    “Fermenting

    An unending aspiration

    To make the world

    Anew.

    Which is,

    In itself,

    A rebellion

    Against waste.”

    Very well said…

  59. The colours of promise in those fresh flowerings are the comfort and meaning.

  60. Beautifully deep and filled with wisdom!

  61. Bjorn Rudberg

    I love how much the word fermenting was in turning the process into positive… maybe we need to find the umami also in life.

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