World Enough and Time

a poem, a prompt, and a book recommendation

Photo by peter bucks on Unsplash

World Enough

At the intersection between still-dark dawn
and moon-gauzed sky, you swim up
 
towards day, torn between the desire to drift
in the warmth of dreams, or obey the bell-mind.
 
There is always something to should 
in an hour, a day, a month, a year. But now comes 

the slow and blessed remembrance that today 
is Sunday—a day to simply love the world, 

for time to pass without you. And now a calling—
the trickle of the creek, veil of birdsong, a ray 
 
of lemon light. A choice to make as you pull back 
the covers. World enough and time.

I’ve been thinking lately about the concept of time and how often I complain (and I am certainly not alone) about being too busy, not having enough time to do the things I really want to do. But isn’t this, in some way at least, a choice? Recently, I’ve been practicing screen-free Sundays—maybe an old movie after dinner, but no phone, no computer, no social media. (This post was scheduled on Saturday.) One day out of the week as sacred. If I have a to-do list, it’s joy based, not project based. Time takes on a different quality, a spaciousness that is filled with freedom— to bake, cook, take a hike, hand write a letter (!), listen to the birds, whatever calls to me. And I have two main take-aways for you:

1) No one misses me. Ever. I mean this in the best way. Whatever emails or messages come in can be returned during the week.

2) It’s amazing what you can get done and/or enjoy when you aren’t glued to a screen, sucked-in to scrolling or distracted by reels that rarely add anything to your day.

A book recommendation

I know the timing is not mere coincidence—it seems whenever I give myself over to an idea that is intuition based, the universe tends to reinforce my efforts—that a poet friend recently recommended the book, World Enough and Time: On Creativity and Slowing Down, by Scottish author Christian McEwan, which echoes and reinforces many of the things I’ve been grappling with related to how I use my time. This is not a new theme, and many authors and self-help practitioners have addressed it well. But McEwan’s approach is holistic and fresh and filled with literary references that have greatly expanded my list of books to read. Honoring the theme of McEwan’s book, I’ve chosen to savor it slowly, one small section at a time, pausing to reflect and take notes on what I find most meaningful, which is often. It’s a book I know I will return to for its insight and wisdom. Thank you, Joanne, for the timely recommendation!

And what a title, right? Borrowed from the beginning lines of “To His Coy Mistress” by seventeenth century English poet Andrew Marvell:

Had we but World enough, and Time,

This coyness, Lady, were no crime.

We would sit down, and think which way

To walk, and pass our long Loves Day.

McEwan is not alone. Many have borrowed the phrase as a book title, and with good reason. I loved it so much, I borrowed it as the last line of my poem above, which was inspired by a wonderful course I’m taking offered by poet Maya Stein called “100 Words: The Beauty of Brevity.” As I’ve learned through her thoughtful prompts, brevity and slowness are not counter-intuitive. Writing a meaningful poem in 100 words or less does not mean it takes less time. To the contrary, it means distilling thoughts to their essential truth and using an economy of words to express them. Slow poetry.

If you had “world enough and time,” what would you add to or take away from your life? How would you spend your time differently? How would you greet the still-dark dawn? I’d love to know.

Wishing you a peaceful week with time to savor, be still, listen, and do something that brings you joy!

With gratitude,