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Thursday 24 May 2012

Time in Reverse

Friday afternoon. That last period.
Me in the hall with all of them for films.
Pupils with Special Needs all set for home.
Their weekly jolly - certainly not mine!
The films were always thirteen minutes short.
(How did they know to edit them that length?)
To take us to the final bell I'd run
the last ten minutes backwards just for fun.
It was the moment they'd been waiting for:
they'd roar to see a London bus in all
its redness running backwards in the street,
but Jumbos landing backwards at Heathrow
elicited no sign of mirth at all.
Then divers as they flew feet first back to
their boards would have them screaming from pure joy,
but Welsh Guards marching backwards... not a titter.

If we could run time backwards in the way
I ran those films, I wonder how we'd see
our past events unravelling as if
in time's great mirror... how would feelings run?
Would tragedies turn into triumphs, and
would our finest moments end as comedy?
Perhaps this world's alternative is that:
a universe of inverse time that over-runs - not opposites.

11 comments:

Windsmoke. said...

Wouldn't that be good to go back in time and undo all the mistakes and blunders you've made :-).

Elephant's Child said...

Our science teacher ran footage of birds eating LARGE pieces of fruit backwards. Those images are still in my head.
I suspect all my finest moments are comedies.
Thanks for this Dave.

Mary said...

I'd like to run life in reverse for a couple decades and then turn running forward again.....slowly.

haricot said...

As for "in time's great mirror", I had an impulse of desire to call back my past favourite time when a automatic door shut over a glass wall...

Brian Miller said...

would tragedies turn into triumphs, that is a good though...it is pretty cool to watch them run in reverse...lol on mary's comment

Laurie Kolp said...

I'm sure we'd see catastrophic events in a different light.

Helen said...

Memories resurrected from years and years ago ... watching films in school, laughing as teachers re-wound them after each viewing. As for today, no re-winds for me, simply moving forward.

Ygraine said...

Yes, I'd like to rewind time too:
To avoid making all the mistakes I've made but failed to see them as such at the time.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, isn't it?

Cloudia said...

what a sparkling intellectual fancy!








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Dave King said...

Windsmoke
Ah, if only...

The Elephant's Child
I have such a great image of that in my head now. Thanks for.

Mary
Get the point, but I think I'd want to be able to edit!

haricot
Like it, you call up the most amazing images. Brilliant!

Brian
It's great for a short while. I found it soon palls, though. Not so the kids. I think they could have watched for ever.

Laurie
Mmmm, my thinking too. Thanks.

Helen
Mmm, rewinding on the T.V. doesn't seem to have the same effect. I wonder why.

Ygraine
Yes, hindsight is brilliant - except when it brings the guilt with it.

cloudia
Really pleased you think so. Thank you.

Jinksy said...

I think most of us would like to rewind time, but not so sure about playing it backwards in slow motion...