He said something about time, The way it passes effortlessly, Without us doing anything at all. He said that the best way To experience time Is to stop and allow it to pass. Don’t think about your future, What needs to be done, Or anything in the distance. Merely sit and wait. He said this to me As he stepped into the street And plodded his way to the other side. And I heard his words, I waited for him to cross, His black eyes straight ahead. He walked with a purpose, Whatever it may have been. The snow was falling, And his feet made webbed footprints In front of me. And I waited. On the other side were his friends, Perhaps, or his family, Also waiting. He was slow, methodical, Like the passage of time itself. I knew that this sequence of moments Was not one to be played out again In the same way. So I waited. And he said to me, “The world is a place of wonder, “And you can only know this “By taking the time.”
Laura Zurawski (she/they) is a Chicago area poet who has been writing poetry since the late 1980s. Most of Laura’s poems explore her experiences with neurodivergence and mental illness, with a sprinkling of nature, religion and relationships. Laura received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1995. She credits her love of poetry and writing to her late father, Philip Zurawski, who was also a prolific poet and founder of the Arlington Poetry Project in Chicago.
