Bide My Time Poem by Paul Reed

' Let's say goodbye to hedges

And roads with grassy edges

And winding country lanes;

Let all things travel faster

Where motor car is master

Till only Speed remains.'

from 'Inexpensive Progress' by Sir John Betjeman


I am still alive
My eyes can still see
At places still arrive
Still want to be
But life so much has changed
Why has it all been re-arranged?

Is this just a test
Is it all a tease
To see who comes off best
To see who stays or flees
But, at the end of the day
Can I really just run away?

Others seem faster, stronger
Others with nimbler minds
Others with days longer
While I pull the blinds
But what am I going to find
Was it enough to just be kind?

Does the prize fall to the swift?
Olympians and Formula One-ers
Or making the tectonic plates shift
Just turn you into goners?
Others may judge it a crime
But I will just bide my time.