How Precious is Time?

How precious is time?
  That secret lover of midnight's embrace.
The slow sultry sigh of the summer's silvery song.
    The pathetic overreaching attempt to grasp
 infinity only to discover that it lies tauntingly
	beyond sight.
Dreams made real.
	  How precious is time?
The soft, warm weight of a newborn babe lying upon a mother's breast.
The lingering sound of children's laughter
		ringing throughout the rainbow of autumn leaves.
The ghostly haunt of lives past,
	of sleepless nights well spent
	   in the lustful arms of love's midnight whispers.
The delicate caress of the soft wind
	created by the near miss of Eternity's 
	  kiss teasing the flaming cheek of youth.
How
       precious
                    is
		time?
   The only remaining unanswered 
	question yearning, burning, turning
   	    in the heart of curious hopes.
The sadness felt when the smiles are gone
  	and only misty memories remain
          of a time when smiles were all that was known.
        How precious is time?
      When smiles can become tears
        and hate can evolve into love,
          and dreams are denial,
            and forever ended yesterday,
              and winds refuse to blow,
                 and memories fade,
	        and heartaches fade,
                      and people fade.

Time is so precious,
	treasure it while it is here.
Waste it not, for once it is gone,
   it can never be recaptured.
So while no man can own time,
    (as he once owned other men)
   he can borrow it for a while.
   He can court her like a passionate
      love, join his fumbling, bumbling
         hands with her soft, experienced ones,
      and dance the waltz upon the
        ballroom floor of the twinkling universe.
And, he can know he's blessed
   when he feels the soft warmth of her
      lips upon his fevered brow as she leaves
    the rumpled bed of their shared love.
Yet, when he awakens, a wistful gaze in his eyes,
         he cannot help but yearn to have her
                once more in his bed that night.
But alas, she is 
       gone.