Time

Time on my hands,
Time to kill,
Time for Reflection,
Time left to my own Devices,
These are not the times I need.

Times like those sink me,
Like a floundering man overboard,
In the sea filled with memory,
Filled with Pain,
Filled with Uncertainty.

I have spent too many years in those times,
Living in a hell that there was no one to share with,
Living a life that I filled the empty time,
To keep me from going mad,
To keep me taking care of those who I was responsible for,
Because that was the only duty that mattered,
The only thing that might regain my honor.

Now I must fill my time with Love,
And Laughter, and joy,
I cannot fall into that sea again,
For this time I may not resurface,
I must live in the words,
And the music that fills my soul,
And no matter how deep the ocean,
No matter how brutal the storms of time,
I will survive, I will overcome,
And I will be the man I am meant to be.

Quincy R Tatum
January 16,2012