i stand on the brink
of beginning,
on the edge
of the end.

dusk will fall and
time will run out,
and by daybreak,
there's no going back.

today will fade
into a distant yesterday
and i can only go
forward from then on.

i'd be lying if i said
that there is no fear.
i've lost count of the nights
i could barely even breathe.

things are changing
too fast, too much,
too soon, too early,
and i'm not ready.

i've never felt
a change so drastic,
so new; dramatic
enough to want a stop ‑

for a pause button
doesn't exist
because time is cruel
and it waits for no one.

time will have you
grovel in the dust
that it leaves behind,
holding on to nothing.

it will let the world
pass you by and sit back
to watch you struggle
to get back up.

i am afraid of time
because time is powerful
and it is painful and pays
no mind to those it hurts.

it can build walls
between hearts and souls
that are separated by
hours, breaths, blinks.

it is a hurricane that sweeps
through order and peace,
and spits you back into
chaos and disarray.

i am afraid that time
will take my world apart
and leave it in shambles
that i can never put back.

i am afraid of losing
the strings i've worked
so hard to thread that
hold me together.

i am afraid that
twenty kilometers
is too far a distance
for me to conquer.

i am afraid that tomorrow
and the years to come
will form a regret, a weight
to sit on my chest.

i only have so many
breathless nights left,
and i'm, second by second,
running out of time.