How frequently; how often,
Have each and every one of us
Wished we could soften
The blows that life delivers us
And capture time in a bottle?

How desperately; how terribly,
Have each and every single one of us
Wished we could forcibly
Remove the ills that trouble us
By capturing time in a bottle?

The problem with us
Is that we have blinkered vision
And forget that time resides within us
In a kind of a prison
For we ourselves are the bottle.

The joy within us
Is that we create our own destiny
And the choices are ours
To make with careful scrutiny
For we hold time within our bottle.