A Psalm on Time and Busyness

Today I am thankful and have to give praise

for time and the timeless and the shortness of days

and the fleetness of moments

and the myriad ways

I’m reminded to treasure this, now.

And today I am restful

but grateful for work

and most gratified that I know how.

Although leisure is lovely and always a perk,

there’s a joy in a job, one that pays

in one way or another; and therefore I bow

in gratitude, glad of reward

for the work I’d have done anyways

and for some I might not, feeling lazy

or afraid that I won’t do my best.

I give thanks for work done and work still left to do

and for chores that are daily

and danger to shirk,

and for tasks that compel or put me to the test

and will not leave my head

when I lie down to rest

and the ones I can easily, cleanly set down

at the ends of the busiest days

with a feeling of fullness,

more paid for than found,

that can make it a pleasure to laze.

And thank God for the way

that my work fills the day

and can keep pain away when I’m bleeding inside

or I’m burning for someone

or something I need

and need something that changes

the passage of time

and the pull of its too-irresistible tide.