Lauren Brown
I fear time.
The surface you’re sitting on now will still exist even after you.
There was a time where you didn’t exist and the world that now revolves around you was still in progress.
At a certain point in this life, our soul and our flesh finally agree;
Our time ahead of us is shorter than that which is behind us.
We begin to spend our days preparing for an impeccable destiny rather than preparing for a future.
Every moment suddenly becomes more valuable because it could be our last.
We try to create this perfect version of ourselves because it could be the last one someone remembers us as.
And when our lungs fill for the final time,
Time goes on.
As you’re walking down the aisle,
A foot has taken its very last step.
As you make passion filled love,
A heart is beating just once more.
And at every moment,
Time continues on.
Time does not exist for us,
We exist for time.
So when someone asks my greatest fear, I don’t say time;
I say death.
Because death exists within time And so do I.
For now.
Lauren Brown is a Senior English major with a concentration in secondary education at Stephen F. Austin State University. She writes in hopes of emphasizing and capitalizing off the awkward white noise that comes with growing up and creating/exercising boundaries. She is often told that she “has a way with words,” but argues that words have a way with her. Lauren believes that poetry is more than a hobby or an art; it is a way of appreciating and experiencing humanity. Lauren’s work has previously been published in the SFA literary journal, HUMID and #TeenWritersProject’s Quarterly Lit Zine Summer 2024 issue.
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