If Earth is lifeless

Then time would be ageless

No life would exist to care about

When or how time started

How fast or slow it proceeds

Or will it ever end

Seasons go by with color changing unnoticed

Day and night alternating turns insignificant

These cycles renew fresh as the dawning

Once life appears on earth

Time coddles it to grow and mature

Then hustles it to turn old and die

Life wishes to cling to time

Which will never compromise

Trotting along with its unrelenting steps

Time leaves its footprints on life

And grays the living thing

Life’s growth records the passing of time

And ages the era

The ephemeral life becomes

An infinitesimal reflection of endless time

By Shih-Fang Wang

From: United States