The transitory and the timeless
- Martyn Foster
- Oct 11, 2024
- 2 min read
The age-old here and now struggle between the ephemeral and the eternal.
The transitory and the timeless
The ephemeral and the eternal
Swiftness and staying
Diurnal and nocturnal
The endless summers as a child
Of a short-lived adult
Wondering all the while
Is life an insult or to exult?
The passing of their time
Consigned to history or forgotten
The unending of all-time
Whose foundations are never rotten
A disappearing act, soon out of sight
Fading away, fugacious
Much to learn you still have
Plato, Dostoevsky, Nietzsche, perspicacious
What are we doing here? A brief myopia
The question never goes away
Like a cyberpunk dystopia
Like a samurai who never fades away
The sand of an hour glass
Temporary
The sands of time
Everlasting
The fleeting nature of popularity
The enduring essence of truth
Momentary vanity
Contrasts with ageless beauty
Day and night, the eternal dance
The perpetual seesaw across time
The rain we might romance
But everybody loves the sunshine
We fight change
Yet it’s the only constant
An “out with the old, in with the new” exchange
My immortal from an evanescent
Questioning my existence
Why don’t I fit anywhere?
Socrates, the eternal man,
Everywhere and nowhere
The wedding and the marriage
Both play their part
The finite and the infinite
Until death do us part
The use of philosophy and religion
Guiding and informing
Passed down through generations
Overcoming our nihilism through meaning
One foot in reality, one foot in fantasy
Yet both feet on the ground
The pendulum swings in ecstasy
Will a balance ever be found?
The transitory and the timeless
Unknown and known, uncertain and certain
The age-old here and now struggle
between the ephemeral and the eternal
I think that's your best poem so far Martyn. Bonus points for referencing the soundtrack to the hit motion picture Daredevil starring Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner.