It's Only a Matter of Time

Happy New Year

Only a Matter of Time
by Christopher Morley

Down-slipping Time, sweet, swift, and shallow stream,
Here, like a boulder, lies this afternoon
Across your eager flow. So you shall stay,
Deepened and dammed, to let me breathe and be.
Your troubled fluency, your running gleam
Shall pause, and circle idly, still and clear:
The while I lie and search your glassy pool
Where, gently coiling in their lazy round,

Unseparable minutes drift and swim,
Eddy and rise and brim. And I will see
How many crystal bubbles of slack Time
The mind can hold and cherish in one Now!

Now, for one conscious vacancy of sense,
The stream is gathered in a deepening pond,
Not a mere moving mirror. Through the sharp
Correct reflection of the standing scene
The mind can dip, and cleanse itself with rest,
And see, slow spinning in the lucid gold,
Your liquid motes, imperishable Time.

It cannot be. The runnel slips away:
The clear smooth downward sluice begins again,
More brightly slanting for that trembling pause,
Leaving the sense its conscious vague unease
As when a sonnet flashes on the mind,
Trembles and burns an instant, and is gone.

We are at the start of a new year, 2025, and I was drawn to this poem by Christopher Morley. I was born in 1942. As I pause and think about it, I am startled by the rapid passage of time and how much my life, the nation, and the world have all changed. I am also surprised by how much the world has not changed, but that is for another essay. Looking back at my personal life, I feel saddened by all my losses. They include my family of origin, friends and neighbors, and, worst of all, my wife, Pat, after fifty years of marriage. Yet, I am grateful for my daughters, grandson, and old friends spanning decades. I have learned that we must savor every moment of life. Our stay here is temporary.

The poem "Only a Matter of Time" by Christopher Morley details the transitory nature of time and man's yearning to hold on to it for at least a moment. The poem describes a fragile stoppage in the flow of time and precious stillness that allows introspection, rest, and clarity. It resonates with the start of a new year when most of us reflect on the passing of time, what has been, and what is yet to come.

The poem likens time to a stream that is always in motion and moves us forward. Of course, there are those times when the relentless movement feels like it has stopped for a moment, and we are thrust into the now.

These do not just pause to smell life but times of deep connectivity to our being, which slow down, catch a breath, and attach themselves to now. The new year is a pause, a moment in which we step out from the steady flow of days and months to take a backward look at what we have achieved and move ahead to what we would like to do. A new year's beginning is clarity, the still, glassy pool of the poem, a time when one sees life more clearly, examines the thoughts, memories, and emotions drifting in one's consciousness, and holds onto the bubbles of time that one can cherish.

Yet, as the poem rightly reminds us, the stillness is not permanent but transient. Time flows again with all its brightness and speed, and we are only left to remember that momentary stay of stillness. The speed at which time goes reminds us of the importance of grasping each moment because they do not happen. Whether it's one's triumphs, moments to think deeply, or, finally, to be alone, time moves onward. The new year, flitting as it does, beckons us to cherish the present while preparing for the journey ahead with deliberation and purpose.

The poem also touches on the wistful nature of such moments; they are precious because they are few. Like the flashing brilliance of a sonnet, which lingers in the brain for a moment before fleeing, the new year's reflective pause leaves us with a sense of both renewal and impermanence. It challenges us to treasure these instances of clarity and use them as stepping stones toward a more conscious and fulfilling journey through time.

The new year is less a milepost of change than an invitation to stop, reflect, and make meaning in the present moment before diving again into life's swift current. In these moments, we are most connected to ourselves, shaping how we will move forward in the stream of time ahead.

The poem can be considered a meditation on one's mortal existence. It relates to how time keeps moving onward and the passing of hours that have neither escape nor hiding place. The poem presents time as a flowing stream that never stops or moves backward. It will go on, whatever its load, and it will cause us to think about life's transient nature, frailty, or impermanence.

The poet describes moments when time seems to stop, deepening into a still, reflective pool. This suggests those rare instances when we can stop and truly feel present. These moments are temporary, much like life, and that impermanence makes them even more beautiful.

Despite our longing to hold on to it, the sense of time slipping away resonates deeply with the human experience of mortality. The poem depicts resistance against forward motion as vain. Even while we hold onto our reflective thoughts, the stream starts flying again to show the temporary character of life inside one's existence, which is utterly incapable of a complete standstill. Life gets on with its tide, and every moment, better treasured, yields its place to the next.