If Only

Time were a malleable element
like iron and if only time could
be crafted into those signposts
to which travel introduces us —

monuments, alien languages,
cars speeding the wrong way,
wrong way people and shops,
xenophobia in a smile at
the wrong moment, coffee
and wine when all food fails —

if only the creeping past
could be intercepted, advised
that the correct path was just
ten meters away from where
all hell was unfolding — if

only time was an approachable
friend or stranger on the morning
bus leaving soon — just a few
words, a few hints — nothing much,

just a moment to apologize
with a sword sentence.