Welcome to the Timeless Zone,
Vast as space and timeless as infinity.
A surreal dimension
Located somewhere between
A normal New Year 2020
And the imagined end
Of the Coronavirus Lockdown.

A dimension of sight, sound and mind
Taking us from the pit of superstition and fear,
To the sunlight of scientific knowledge.

The days pass endlessly
As we look for something to do
Again and again.
No meetings to go to,
Our year-planners and diaries
Consigned to being buried in dust.

Here we sit
In twilight:
Idly watching TV
Or catching up on household chores.
We take a daily walk
Even jog
And occasionally pop to the shops.

Shops that is, where you have to follow the arrows
Keep in your own little zone
Do Not Pass Go
Go straight to Jail –
I mean The Counter:
Once you have followed the maze
Of often empty shelves
Ransacked by Panic Buyers.

And at the counter you are served
By workers in gloves and plastic visors.
You must stay behind that line!

But mainly we sit like zombies,
Passing away the time.
At least the pressure is off:
Nowhere to go
Nothing to do.

But look!
A sign up ahead.
Maybe a crossing.
I hope it says
“The End”.

Paul Butters

© PB 19\4\2020. With due credit to “The Twilight Zone” TV series.

Sometimes I just
think I should  
be the
flow,
not the
girl
lost into
it.

Someone told me you're still pretty
you still wear your 20's in your 30's
bite your nails when angsty
and stutter when jittery

Someone told me you still fly
making the earth your sky
falling out of being shy
into living a different reality

Someone told me you still cry
when you're feeling, everything really...
turning your cheeks red with salty tears
chafing childhood from baby cheeks

Someone told me you...still...

I bring you my heart as you would a flower. Take it, put it to your nose, press it to your lips, pin it to your breast.

There is no end
Nor can there ever be
For we are bound
Eternally.

Be like the Ocean - majestic, serene, resilient;
Accepting all, rejecting none.

Calm, Vast, Ageless, Timeless, Guileless:
Unto that source where all rivers become One.

I’ve grown, I’ve learned, I’ve gained, I’ve lost...... I’ve hurt, I’ve changed but still have the same thoughts. “It’s me!!!!” I scream. “It’s me, can’t you see! It’s me! I’m still the same!” But to lie about who I am now is pointless cause I have nothing to gain. No love or friends cause January 2019 was supposed to be new. And February, oh February. February is when I lost you. March brought more rain. April, May and June brought pain. Crazy cause in June I had a birthday. July made me cry. August I still whipped my eyes. September again brought me bad times. October and November I know I longed for love and my wish never came true. Now December’s here I’m broken and have nothing to fear. So much so that I know I have nothing to lose. What a year I’ve had but to say I’d change it all would be crazy, simple because it all makes me who I am and that’s the one thing through this year and all the others that I’ll always remember. “It’s me!”.....”it’s still..... me.

But if the winds of Time
should come for me tonight,
I will return
but not as a boy.
But as a butterfly.
So I may continue to circle
around her light ..