Time Travel

Moments

by Brandon CrillyJanuary 2, 2018

At 11:17 a.m. on my third day,

I saw you across the quad

But you disappeared before I could reach you.

At 4:55 p.m. in 1919,

One of Clemenceau's aides got in my way

And you were gone again.

At 8:23 p.m. in 1604,

You smiled at me in the Globe

When I said, "So Shakespeare did exist."

At 9:31 p.m. in 1935,

The Mahatma made you blush.

I have the photo to prove it.

At 10:54 a.m. in 1763,

Convincing Catherine that I was Voltaire

Was not fair payback, and you know it.

At 7:03 a.m. in 2001,

I stopped you from saving someone,

Knowing you might never speak to me again.

At 1:58 p.m. on my nineteenth day,

We convinced you it was still worth it.

My motives were selfish.

At 4:40 p.m. in 50 BCE,

I proved you're more beautiful than Cleopatra,

Just to make you smile again.

At 12:01 a.m. in 1420,

We wrote our names on a boulder

And promised it we'd visit later.

At 6:28 p.m. on my thirty-fourth day,

You talked me out of going forward

Since for us, now matters more than someday.

At 9:42 a.m. in 1955,

I skateboarded around a clocktower.

At least you got the joke.

At 2:12 p.m. in 1770 BCE,

I shouldn't have dared you

To offer Hammurabi a fake eye as trade.

At 3:15 p.m. in 1851,

We kissed under the Crystal Palace

And told Charlotte Bronte not to stare.

At 6:43 a.m. in 1355,

I lost sight of you for a moment

But that moment mattered more than any other.

At 5:09 p.m. someday later,

They convinced me to stop searching

But I shouldn't have listened.

At 11:10 a.m. on some other me's first day,

I wanted to stop you crossing the quad

Even though it doesn't work that way.

At 12:01 a.m. in 2004,

I fulfilled the promise to our boulder

Knowing someday it won't be there.

At 8:18 p.m. on my last day,

Breaking every law was worth it

To see you smile in the Globe again.

About Brandon Crilly

An Ottawa teacher by day, Brandon Crilly has been previously published by PULP Literature, On Spec, The 2017 Young Explorer's Adventure Guide, and Sunvault: Stories of Solarpunk and Eco-Speculation. He received an Honorable Mention in the 2016 Writer's Digest Popular Fiction Awards, reviews fiction for BlackGate.com and develops programming for Can-Con in Ottawa. You can find Brandon at brandoncrilly.wordpress.com or on Twitter @B_Crilly.

http://www.brandoncrilly.wordpress.com/

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