Parallel

Parallel

Two lines stretch

Running to infinity

Set to different speeds.

One runs in minutes

The other in blocks

These lines will never meet.

From a distance, fine thread

Zoom in, whole galaxies appear

Stars and planets, all moving at the speed of time.

Between, lies an ocean of dark,

Impossible to cross

And yet, I swim with others

Floating free.

Looking back, past years fade

Ahead, the future blurs

But for those like me

Who navigate the space between

Who reach the frontier of true time,

… we see.

We trace the past in perfect record

The future forms in never-ending zeros and ones.

And in our world, campfires burn

Surrounded by huddles of

Time-travelling psychonauts,

Sharing our escape routes from

The march towards death.

We talk of next century

We watch the stars and dream.

Across the divide,

The mainline races forward

Gaining pace but losing mass

Traveller by traveller.

Piece by piece.

A change occurs in every one

Who swims the universe

Feels the pull of their tether

Ignores the force that draws them back

And cuts loose.

We leave the noise of nations

For the quiet hum of work.

We trade consumption for construction

Publish ideas; verify truth.

We find abundance

In the vacuum of space.

Yet for us, the early few,

Craftsmen, explorers

We are held between

These parallel lines.

Our loved ones watch us take the strain

As gravity pulls us in a million different directions.

We bridge the distance

And hold these lines together.

With all our strength, we close the gap

Inch by inch, block by block,

Then others join and take the leap

Leave the world they knew behind

And together,

We build eternity.