Raised on Getting By

Until he knew, one September day, it was not enough, because tomorrow
requires more than just getting by...

...tomorrow is a school of higher learning, a rendezvous with unseen scrolls,
a ferryboat exempt from sinking, an attache filled with hardtack, unfinished
sculpture, a speech without flaw...

...tomorrow fetters the past with tight cords, it collars that which was and
stores it in precise files, it silences today with swift action...

...a disagreement with today, an estimate of what’s to come, a tailor altering
the slacks of Tuesday.  A runner in a far-off marathon, a linguist holding his
breath, a fugitive hiding in a Government warehouse... 

...tomorrow’s always intact, always at arm’s length, always tall and proud
atop rugged bluffs waving at the now.  It crusades for speculation, panders
to production, and campaigns for hope.  Tomorrow passes out blank checks
but withholds the ink...

...tomorrow has the lease for the unexpected, has the deed for future ownership,
and has the script for upcoming events...

...tomorrow is jewelry locked in a safe, is jazz yet to be heard, is direction yet
to be given.  A speck barely visible, a suffix anticipating its scan, a waif in an
unmarked sedan masked by the horizon of time...

...it is vastness that rubs elbows with eternity, it is uncounted lumber, it is a
knight on a white steed eager to lance the shroud of today...

...it is the virtuosity of time and the matrix of dimension, it is conspicuous
by its poker-face and posture...

...tomorrow cuddles with gypsy winds, taunts trouble as if transparent,
consigns the minutes as if laughing...

...tomorrow demonstrates as a muscular remark, it validates as a flaming
perimeter, it integrates as noble requirement...

...tomorrow is the applause of an appreciating audience, it is the harvest
of human possession, it is the learning of zenith and nadir.  Its gait is
industrious, its demeanor elegant, its ability infinite...

...tomorrow is hope and speculation, mystery and suspense.  Tomorrow is the
postage on which today is mailed.  Tomorrow officiates time’s forward pass,
and it penalizes without prejudice...

...tomorrow is a rascal stealing cookies from the mouth of procrastination.
It is a specter haunting the homes of inaction, it is a magistrate judging
the motives of the pretentious...

...it is an expressway, a spinning galaxy, a prima donna, a motor’s magnet, a
membrane through which today must pass.  It is a business without debit, an
academy without failure, an expedition without delay, a structure without
settlement.  It is remedy and reality, decree and drive.


40 Lines
Writer’s Cramp
3-2-16