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Tuesday 9 October 2012

The Hiatus

It was, they said, a conjecture,
a supposition, no more than that,
something that might have explained
a few perturbations they'd found
in the movements of things in the sky.

Suppose, they said, a hiatus...
The universe might have stopped for
- for a what? - a second? an hour?
a decade? millennium? more?

Problem then is: when it stopped -- 
that is to say, for the time it was stopped
there was no time at all. Time failed to exist.
It was stopped for exactly 
zero time. What, therefore,
we all of us now need to know, is this:
if no time passed
for the time it was stopped,
then did the universe stop - or not?
Where did
the time go
that was nowhere
around?

15 comments:

Elephant's Child said...

And forever after we are all making up for lost time...

Anonymous said...

Aha! This is a very Terry Pratchettesque poem - have you ever read The Thief of Time? Great book - very funny.

And what happened to that tree that fell during that second or so?

Interesting questions here! k.

Shadow said...

is there consciousness in time that stops?

Brian Miller said...

and was it much of a break if time didnt stop? did anyone notice...and what was the point? but it did and that means something right? well you have my mind a pondering...

Mary said...

Well, actually I cannot believe that the universe had stopped for any period of time. So I would throw that theory out of the door. LOL.

However, I do always wonder where the time goes in my life, the time that is nowhere around! (Smiles)

Rachna Chhabria said...

I like this poem a lot. Its quite thought provoking.

Linda said...

Wow....really makes one think, Dave!

Tommaso Gervasutti said...

A kind of Catch 22 question. It leaves the reader greatly suspended in an unanswerable sky.

Cloudia said...

a second or century would be the same to us suspended ones. . .


Aloha from Waikiki,

Comfort Spiral

> < } } ( ° >

Steve King said...

I'll never worry about losing track of time again...very smart composition, driven by a great idea. Nice work.

haricot said...

Passing time is one of big concern for me. I have never thought about it would stop, but I feel like it goes quicker than usual and vice versa, but why...

Dave King said...

The Elephant's Child
Ah, you put your finger ont! Are we losing time? I don't know the answers, i just ask the questions!

manicddaily
Terry PratchettesqueI take that as a great compliment. If only...
I'm not sure that the tree would have had a second... but then again, I'm not sure that it wouldn't have!

Shadow
What a good question? Gut answer: no - but don't take my word for it.

Brian
I'm with you: what I don't see is: if time didn't exist, how did the hiatus help solve the riddle of the perturbations in the orbits?

Mary
Well, I think I'm with you on the first count - anddefinitely on the second!

Rachna
Thanks Rachna. Glad you thought so.

Linda
Good to have your thought. Thanks.

Tommaso
Nice way of putting it. Me like. Thanks.

Cloudia
Full marks. Gibe that girl a team star!

Steve
Thanks Steve, but I'll not hold you tp the promise...

haricot
It DOES go9 quicker than it did. I'm sure of it!

james
Hi James. Thanks for visiting and thanks too for the kind words. Very much appreciated.

Ygraine said...

You're tying my mind in knots again Dave!
I don't believe we would notice if time stopped, because surely we would stop with it, would we not?

Now I'm beginning to wonder if time really exists at all - except in our own minds...

What IS reality?

hyperCRYPTICal said...

Thought provoking stuff Dave.

I will ponder on this and no doubt not reach a conclusion...

Anna :o]

Dave King said...

Ygraine
Yes, I'm sure we would stop with it - if time exists at all, that is. My own inclination, for what it's worth, is to think that it doesn't - maybe something like the way sound and colour do not exist outside the brain.

hyperCRYPTICal
nd again thanks. I'd be interested to know of any conclusion reached.