as childhood slips through our fingers
like sand from a broken hourglass
we tighten our grip and try to keep
all the remnants we can grasp
and as every piece slowly vanishes
we look up to see how others fare
judging superiority to establish order
if we could steal from our companions
we would not hesitate to add to our pile
but that has been neatly *******
so that we get nothing for our trouble
though we may lose a friend meanwhile
it would be nice if we could realise
the hourglass is not destroyed
and if we could only see it truly
then we would see that this obsession
with gaining what we cannot hold
is a troublesome mythology
because we are seeing upside-down
the glass of time may be running low
but only because eternity is filling up
and as time trickles away wisdom proves
the things lost are nothing
compared to the things gained