281 - We live in the present, not in the past

We live in the present, not in the past:
Well, that’s what we all normally assume,
But looking closer, though light travels fast,
It still takes time for it to cross a room.
The chair alters, meanwhile, but our eyes zoom
Backwards along time’s road, always stuck in
That rear view mode, while, through the vast vacuum
Of space, long dead stars still appear to spin.
We throw yesterday’s papers in the bin,
But still, all that we see is now surpassed
And out of date, like old lovers’ perfume,
When old light, at long last, has dawned within.
The stillness present in this room’s a cast
Of dead actors, filmed raging against doom.
Tue 12 June 2007