Early Lateness

Gold cherry
Poem of the week

By Turlough

Sun, 26 Oct 2025
  • 540 reads
23 comments
 

 

Early Lateness

 

As my hemisphere grows darker

The men who wind up the world

Choose to make it darker still

Just days before my birthday

 

As I’m blowing out the candles

My wish is for more daylight

Perhaps I should just let them burn

They’ve the luminous intensity of Sirius

When you’re sixty-eight like me

 

In exchange for early late nights

They gave us sixty extra minutes

To do with as we please

I spent mine adjusting clocks

I could have boiled twenty eggs

 

It actually took me sixty-four

Which made the darker nights

Even harder to swallow

Than twenty hard-boiled eggs

 

Image:

A winter sunset in Veliko Tarnovo. My own photograph.

 

 

Certificate U
Poem
Poetry in Commotion
Opinion
Inspiration Point (work that responds to our weekly writing cue)

Comments

Submitted by airyfairy on

Guess we just have to wait until the light starts creeping back again. Though it may take a while.

Submitted by Turlough on

It's a grim day but chin up AF.

Since the back end of June I've had it in my diary...

Sunday, December 21, 2025, 5:03 p.m.

That's when we can rejoice the start the journey back.

laugh

Turlough

Submitted by sean mcnulty on

A fine poem about the passage of time, full of marvellous wordplay and layering. This is our Facebook, Twitter, and BlueSky Pick of the Day. Please share far and wide.

 

Submitted by Turlough on

Lovely! Lovely! Lovely news! 

Thank you Sean. You've brought a big smile to my face on my least favourite day of the year.

Turlough

Submitted by insertponceyfre... on

I also have that date underlined Turlough. Very well deserved golden cherries as a run up to your birthday celebrations. You're the exact same age as the new President of Ireland (was just reading an article about her)

 

Submitted by Turlough on

Thank you IPFN and well done to our Cath.

I'm also the same age as Siouxsie Sioux, Billy Bragg, Dawn French, Glenn Hoddle, Madonna, Stephen Fry, Lindsay Hoyle and Donny Osmond. We have some amazing parties.

Turlough

Submitted by insertponceyfre... on

Quite a varied guest list there!

 

Submitted by Turlough on

Ah, once you get to know us we're all pretty similar.

Turlough

Submitted by skinner_jennifer on

Many Happy Returns for your birthday Turlough. Hope it was a good one with plenty of smiles. smiley

Jenny.

 

Submitted by Turlough on

Thanks very much Jenny. It hasn't happened yet though. It's still over a week away. 

Turlough

Submitted by Makis on

Hi Turlough

I too spent one hour altering the thirteen timepieces in my house, even though every one of them is rendered useless by the devices we now spend large chunks of our lives staring at. Loved the boiled eggs reference; reminded me of that scene in Papillon with Paul Newman doing exactly that.

 

Submitted by Turlough on

I don't know if it's a good or a bad thing that we rely so heavily on the mobile phones at clock change time. I hate the things but they have their uses as years back I'd sometimes become distressed over wondering if the hour I was altering the clocks by was an hour in the right direction. My mother once altered hers a week too early and couldn't be bothered changing them back again when she realised her mistake but she should have done for the sake of the week of great confusion it caused in the family.

I think Paul Newman's eggs may have been in the film Cool Hand Luke. 

Thanks for reading my poem anyway, and your comment is greatly appreciated.

Turlough

Submitted by Makis on

Whoops! I went for the wrong film, having seen both I wasn't sure which one it was as it was so long ago. Never mind, we got there in the end.

 

Submitted by Turlough on

If my memory's doing its job, he did have a similar experience in Papillon except that he ate a pot full of cockroaches rather than boiled eggs. That must have been terrible as you can't dip your soldiers in a cockroach.

Turlough

Submitted by Makis on

If they're done with a nice bechamel sauce it shouldn't be too bad. Depends which regiment we're talking about!

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

I've done the same thing as your Mum! Glad it is not just me :0) Luckily the only one I have is the kitchen clock.
How do you manage with so many animals expecting extra breakfast and tea? Hope you have a sunny Birthday :0)
Wonderful photo, makes it look like the sun is a musical note rung by the bells :0)

 

Submitted by Turlough on

Thanks Di.

We went away to stay with friends in the mountains for the weekend, returning early Sunday evening, so feeding the team was the responsibility of the house-sitter lady. She's very good at dealing with life's abnormalities so we think we'll do the same whenever any other minor difficulty arises.

I'm pleased that you like the photograph as the taking of it was a risky business. The bells are suspended from a sort of gantry thing at the top of the hill in the medieval fortress. The whole thing was covered in ice at the time (almost nine years ago) but it was too good a photo opportunity to miss. I knew it would come in useful eventually.

Turlough

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

Twenty hard boiled eggs, sounds like the sort of grotesque body builders fare they like to boast about on social media. The autumn clock change is rather grim and also a pain in the arse. I was born on winter solstice, a very dark birthday but light and hope is at least on the horizon. Unlike...

 'the men who wind up the world, choose to make it darker still'. When will this pattern end? crying

 

Submitted by Turlough on

The autumn clock change is indeed grim Jane, but what a burst of happiness I get from the spring the other way one. Unless we move to the bottom end of Argentina for half of the year we're stuck with dark winters, so I tend to bite the bullet and don't complain about them, unless somebody somewhere needs a poem. The problem is that the men who wind up the world seem intent on messing with our minds at a time of year when they're already messy.

Strangely I don't mind the winter solstice because at that point we've reached the middle of the tunnel and things can only improve from then on. I usually have a small sherry on that day so I'll raise a glass in your direction.

Turlough

Submitted by airyfairy on

This is our wonderful Poem of the Week! Congratulations!

Submitted by Turlough on

Splendid news! Thank you AF. You're a very kind editor. 

Turlough

Submitted by celticman on

I'm a fan of natural light too. Which may by a stupid thing to say. I've said worse. 

 

Submitted by Turlough on

That makes perfect sense to me CM.

Turlough