No Time Machine

By Andrew R. Duckworth

To view the past,
We looked to the rock,
We looked to the ink,
We looked to the night sky.

To view the future,
We looked to our behavior,
We looked to the sky,
We looked at our neighbor.

And then there is the present,
Caught between future and past,
Liminal and uncertain,
The constant anxiety.

No time machine needed,
Just a mind to interpret.