John-Ward Leighton

FILLING IN TIME

Birth, death.
In for a nickel or in for a dime
‘cause all we were doing in between was
filling in time.

When I was a kid
time went by really slow
it was hard to wait that long
when you really didn’t know.

We had questions about the cause
but when we asked why
our parents always answered
because.

Then we got older
living in our teens
by then we had all the answers and
we thought our parents really didn’t know beans.

Then late in our teens
the government said come here boys
‘cause your country needs you
take this rifle, get a haircut, and forget about your toys.

We were going off to play war, to rape and pillage and fuss
the only thing we didn’t know
if there was going to be rape and pillage
it was going to happen to us.

Then the poets among us
told of love and hope in song and rhyme
but all we were doing was staying out of trouble and
filling in time.

Life has rushed by
and most of our now has turned into then
the only thing unanswered
is the how, the where, and the when.

I see my children’s faces
they live far away in many different places
and send me pictures of my grand children from time to time.
Not bad when you consider I was only filling in time.

Now with inflation flagrant
we’re in for a quarter and in for a buck
if you think I’ll use the obvious rhyme
you’re gonna be just out of luck.

Birth, love, work, some pain, then death,
we were in for a nickel or in for a dime
cause all we were really doing was living and
filling in time.