A poem that’s not about binge-watching cat videos on social media.

~~~

You stole my Time
To salvage your own
Whether it was your intent all along
Will never be known.

I do not know what is in your heart
Or lies in the depths of your soul
Still, I knew better than to allow something that belonged to me
To fall under another’s control.

I’d seen your type
All smiles and kindness, sincerity flowing with every word
Foolish, foolish me
I believed everything I heard.

You’d cleverly caught me in your web
Quick as a camera flash, I lost hours, days, then months
Until I could no longer remember
Just whose Time it once was.

Satisfied we had fallen into a predictable routine
You slipped into the shadows without looking back
Leaving me to wonder where Time had gone
And how I’d gotten so far off track.

Finally, realization dawned in my time-warped mind
And despite the odds that were stacked
I hunted down Time
And took the reins back.

Though I tried to be compassionate
Nothing was ever the same
As you morphed into a mask of cool calmness
The moment before you destroyed all that remained.

I hadn’t wanted to hurt you, of that I was clear
Tucked behind the mask you nodded, smiled but the Truth could not hide
Revealing I had been nothing more to you
Than a commodity of Time.

I wish I could offer some pithy advice
To those who harbor a nagging feeling about Time gone amiss
Other than to say — take a good, long hard look around you
There may be a thief in your midst.

~~~

Originally published on Medium.