Next Time

"Next time, oh but next time"
Thus the idle heart flounders,
And the crannies of thought never see the light of day:
Old Time never loses,
Nor the Moirae nor the Muses,
Yet still 'tis the Mind that holds sway -
  It holds sway.

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I was lying awake in bed in the wee hours of morning when this barged in. As sleep had not yet come and consciousness had exhausted itself out, my mind was a state of utter chaos.

Suddenly the first line came drifting across my plane of thought.

Then a blurred image of the second line floated into view.

Then a hint of the third...

I fumbled for my mobile phone, switched it on and jabbed the shortcut code for "notebook" in record time, all the while coaxing lines out of obscurity. It was like receiving unexpected extraterrestrial signals over wireless: a frantic attempt to record while trying to hold on to the signals!

Anyway I successfully got it down, and in a presentable form needing very little editing on my (conscious mind's) part. One of the very few times I've been able to do so. The "signal" is frequently too weak to capture, save a few phrases or lines. Revelations that occur during the day usually fall under this category because the Conscious is too active and overrides the "critical wavelength". The fragments produced go on my "pending projects list", and with some luck, get worked into a full-blown poem. Otherwise they get labelled Fragmentary and sit in my ditty box forever.