I thought one morning as I burnt the toast: if time could be run backwards for a bit -- to just before I filled the room with smoke -- what mighty benefits might then accrue for man and for the universe at large... But then I thought -- and, Oh, that little word, the torment of that saddo little but! -- Suppose I've crashed my car, head on into a tanker filled with highly octane fuel... suppose some good Samaritan has moved time out of forward gear into reverse... the day is back to happy, carefree ways. But then I thought -- the way one does -- the way one should think on, more deeply I suppose: the accident has been averted. Time is back in Forward Drive. What then? Does it resume its former course? Is déjà vu -- that sense that memory is lost -- what we two drivers feel? Must we collide again? Oh, no! My toast! Predestined to be burnt!
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Saturday, 20 October 2012
Predestination - or what?
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15 comments:
Great stuff Dave.
Toast is sometimes predestined to be burnt...
Anna :o]
I liked your linking of the small conflagration with the larger,
what is will be and happen even if we step out of that time...if burning your toast changes the world to a brighter tomorrow....let the toast burn...smiles....fun play with time man...
Predestined? Might just well be! It's at least better than involved with another car on the road. Great imagery Dave!
Hank
I did that the other day b/c I sat at the computer "for a minute" while it was in the toaster oven.
There are some holes within time...in the case of toast it's relatively small. But your imagination is getting bigger,wothout going to far...
Ha! Again I recommend Terry Pratchett here - the trousers of time! What happens when you get in the wrong leg?
Very cute poem! k.
PS = I hope you got some good toast in the end.
You can always scrape off the burnt part to change its fate, playing a trick on that predestination thing. Smiles.
What an amusing, elegant and delightful poem, Dave, but with a slightly anxious undercurrent. I love the light and shade you create.
Perhaps you could rewind time and have cereal for breakfast and therefore cheat destiny.
But then I guess it would only delay the inevitable!
Chuckles :D
This is lovely - but slightly troubling! My grandma has never mastered unburnt toast :-)
I specially like this line:
Time
is back in Forward Drive.
Don't burn the toast ~
hyperCRYPTICAL
Mine definitely is!
The Elephant's Child
Thanks. Useful comment this.
Brian
Burninng toast, bridges and the candle at both ends: I've tried them all - not my bra, though.
Hank
Yup, give you that - unless that's what I'm predestined to do, of course...
Laurie
Ah! These computers have a lot to answer for!
haricot
Thanks. Yes, I did consider the holes, but was afraid I might fall through.
manicddaily
I know what happens when I get in the wrong trouser leg! Thanks for the comment.
Mary
Tch! I didn't even think of that! I'll remember next time. I love cheating they there ole fates!
Jenny
Thanks for that - a really great comment to get.
Ygraine
True - on both counts, I think.
(Hope you got my comment this time - the last ne seems to have got lost.)
Rachel
No, well I can do untouched and burnt offering, it's in between that stumps me.
Heaven
Guess I'll try to stay in forward driv a lot more often than I have in the past.
I sometimes wonder whether, should I be in great danger, I would like to kno beforehand. And what precautions would I take? I loved the simple example you gave. We all burn toast, don't we? :-)
Greetings from London.
A Cuban in London
Yes, an interesting conundrum, that. I had a recent experience, when I was told and am glad I was don't know if that helps!
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