NTH

On the nth day before the nth hour was through

a knock on the front door revealed travellers two

Images of Mr Now they were, one young, one old

seeking shelter and company from the bitter cold

One called himself Mr Then cloaked in robes of past

The other Mr Hereafter was brimming with forecast

They spoke for a day or more sharing thoughts and anecdotes

parables of present dilemmas and predictions yet to pass

Sparks of life found in human consciousness

and they compared what fuelled their existence

Mr Then confessed that his memory was shrouded

The ability to recall he said was chronologically clouded

by a billion thoughts that grew and sequentially died

as soon as something new was discovered or identified

Nothing seemed to last when relegated to the past

living but for a brief duration that disappeared fast

Losing to the forgetful mind, the ever decaying brain

Disconnected synapses in an ever growing chain

In wishful reminiscing was how he spent his day

And then all was quiet for he had nothing more to say

Mr Hereafter spoke of how life was unpredictable

Calculated guesswork making things undependable

He said he lived in a world of vague conjecture

On a turntable spun by experts who loved to lecture

Matters that they knew not as they packaged paradise

into tailor-made trinkets sold for the right price

Man made uncertainties were sown into his tunic

Blind belief seeded by the faithful for the opportunistic

He could not say for certain if there was heaven or hell

So he chose silence for there was nothing more to tell

Mr Now walked the surroundings with his companions

And they observed the way his life was filled with passion

The importance of every moment that he lived and breathed

extracting fulfilling experience from every second squeezed

Drinking the essence of today without thought for tomorrow

The euphoria of being present replacing sorrow with a glow

Discovered in a mountain path hidden from humanity

Soaking in the rain drenched air enjoyed bereft of vanity

There was much more to show all drowned in laughter

As they profited from Now forgetting Then and Hereafter