The Lingering

Between tomorrow and today, there was a lingering
a natural inclination to hang on for fear of losing,
getting lost, not knowing where he was headed;
and then it was gone between the dusk and dawn.
In one such protraction of in between and not yet,
it took that pause to make him realize
the todays in his life were only whispers,
warnings, portenders of things to come
in all of his tomorrows – the pain, the joy, the sorrows.

Yesterdays had no place, their memories without end.
There was no life within them, only places he'd been.
Shaking off the yesterdays like a cloak worn thin,
he began to take the days for what they were,
brief bits of living links joined from end to end.
And of all his tomorrows, he did not know if they would come;
but he still took notice of the lingering before the dawning sun.

16 lines

Prompt:  Write a poem or story that uses the opening line of "Time Out" by Robert Frost: "It took that pause to make him realize."