On the Outside of Time

FOR YOU, FRIEND,

this Valentine's Day, I intent to stand
for as long as I can on a kitchen stool
and hold back the hands of the clock,
so that wherever you are, you may walk
even more lightly in your loveliness;
so that the weak, mid-February sun
(whose chill I will feel from the face
of the clock) cannot in any way
lessen the lights in your hair, and the wind
(whose subtle insistence I will feel
in the minute hand) cannot tighten
the corners of your smile. People
drearily walking the winter streets
will long remember this day:
how they glanced up to see you
there in a storefront window, glorious,
strolling along on the outside of time.

by Ted Kooser,
Poet Laureate of the United States, 2004-2006


Holding back time is an idea I like; Kooser has captured the concept with vivid images that work for me. Occasionally just slowing time would be sufficient.

It's been another day with the temperature in the 80s. We've had a lovely summer this winter. The weather folks are claiming it's going to start cooling beginning tomorrow. So here's hoping.

Good night from Southern California.
Rosie (& Mr. Fun), aka Carol