Would You Know the Tally of Your Time

October 6, 2019

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which began this year at sunset on Sept. 29 and ended on the evening of October 1.

I welcome comments on my poems at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com .

A philosophical poem about whether one would really like to know how much evil and good one has done:

Would you know the tally of your time,

The good and bad you’ve caused, the joy and pain?

Or would you not? I know I would not mine,

The number no self-knowledge dare assign,

The weighted roster of the saved and slain.

Would you know the tally of your time?

And would you see that number as a sign

Of your self-worth, a judgment that is plain?

Or would you not? I know I would not mine,

For numbers are like labels that confine

One’s feeling for oneself to pride or shame.

Would you know the tally of your time,

The blunt assessment you cannot refine,

The sum that gives a thousand words one name?

Or would you not? I know I would not mine.

Thank God I can’t! I might my heart resign,

Self-satisfied or full of self-disdain!

Would you know the tally of your time,

Or would you not? I know I would not mine.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/wouldy.html. For more philosophical poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/philosophicalpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Rosh Hashanah

9/30: Reason Says, of Course, that There’s No Book

10/1: Remember as You Scour Your Soul for Sin

10/2: Repentance Is Quite Different from Regret

10/3: Revelation Strikes You as Absurd

10/4: Revenge Is Often Taken in the Mind

10/5: Ritual Recalls the Revelation

10/6: Would You Know the Tally of Your Time