My mom taught me that it’s good to be on time 

Really, that on time is the only way to be 

That if you want to shine

Be early 

Don’t be under time or over time 

Because life is more than where you dine or what you drive 

And don’t be beside it 

It doesn’t need your pity or your rage 

You can’t make more of it by tailgating and angry words you say 

So be on time 

Don’t be in it 

From above you see all that’s splendid 

And also how to spend it

When I was young, she missed a class 

And I don’t remember how that came to pass

It was night time – maybe the car had died?

I remember her sobbing and talking to my dad 

I wonder if that’s why I now dream about missing important things

Tests, appointments, meetings 

Maybe missing them is actually somewhat freeing 

Ahh, to not have so many places to be  

When I was in 7th grade, I missed the chorus concert 

Forgot all about it – simple as that 

But I passed 7th grade

Life went in, that’s a fact 

And that lovely chorus instructor died from ovarian cancer 

I never understood octaves 

I was never a cantor 

These days I try to not spend too much time alone 

Although I’d often rather spend time in a poem

Those late to their funerals 

Are still integral to something communal 

Meeting with others requires timeliness 

Promptness is a way to bless 

Being on time is a way to give time

To be under it would make you a subject 

To be over it would be arrogant 

To be beside it, in appropriate 

When I get up to go somewhere and move my legs 

I think about what my mother says 

“For every gathering, being on time says everything”