The question asks "how"
not
"how has it gone?"
only I know that
[thinking quickly]
not
"how much have you learnt?"
[never enough]
it asks
"how much has passed?"

as if what's gone by
has died
and it hasn't
it's the opposite
it's been so alive
with everything I am
all that we are
it's unfortunate
that the majority of it
misplaced
absent minded
has somehow gone blank
when I try to remember it

so I answer
13.798±0.037 billion years
the same as you
or we wouldn't be here

it's just that recently
the old bit
has had a special quality
for us both

and I'm stared at
not
absent mindedly
but
blankly
as in stark staring

which takes me back
to where I started