Hastiness – the answer that’s come too soon:
a gift-wrapped solution, an empty shell.
It’s just another song without a tune;
has momentum but nothing to impel.
We are all too ready to jump and leap:
jump to conclusions through hoops of faith.
Too quick to give away what we should keep:
ready to end; too impatient to wait.
Hastiness – cuts loose, all that’s to follow:
severs ties with solutions; tried and true.
Too quick to grab at straws, thin and hollow.
Too quick to surrender to all that’s new.
. Hastiness – not an answer, just a fudge;
. just an assumption, they’ll be quick to judge.

© Tim Grace, 8 October 2012

To the reader: Since the beginning of biblical days, through the wisdom of Solomon, we’ve been advised to avoid the lazy answer; Proverbs 21:5 states that:diligence leads to riches, as surely as haste leads to poverty”. And more confusingly we’re told to balance haste over speed (or is it the other way around?). All very well, but convenience is an attractive lure; the short-cut solution that satisfies impatience often appeals.

To the reader: “How are we to judge without conclusion?” – The good poem reads as fresh and acute; of the moment, forever true. Hence, there shouldn’t be too many indicators of laboured inspiration. Conversely, signs of a rushed solution are markers of laziness. Somewhere, built into a poem, there needs to be both ‘point and purpose’… like ‘dollars and cents’ they are the currency of a ‘reading and writing’ exchange.