THE LOOM OF TIME

 

THE LOOM OF TIME   

            “THE LOOM OF TIME” is an anonymous poem written metaphorically about human life from beginning to end as planned by God but not spelled out as to how it will complete its destined course.

            The poem consists of seven stanzas of four lines each. The language is  simple; the theme  most attractive; and the overall poetic impression is

highly admirable.  It is one of the best loved poems in English poetry.  

 

               Here are all the seven stanzas. The first line of each one begins with a part of the overall theme.

 

“Man’s life is laid in the loom of time

To a pattern he does not see,

While the weavers work and the shuttles fly

Till the dawn of eternity.

 

Some shuttles are filled with colourful threads

And some with threads of gold,

While often but the darker hues

Are all that they may hold.

 

But the weaver watches with skillful eye

Each shuttle fly to and fro,

And see the pattern so deftly wrought

As the loom moves sure and slow.

 

God surely planned the pattern;

Each thread, the dark and fair,

Is chosen by His master skill

And placed in the web with care.

 

He only knows its beauty,

And guides the shuttles which hold

The threads so unattractive,

As well as the threads of gold.

 

Not till each loom is silent,

And the shuttles cease to fly,

Shall God reveal the pattern

And explain the reason why.

 

The dark threads were as needful

In the weaver’s skillful hand

As the threads of gold and silver

For the pattern which He planned.

 

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G.R.Kanwal

26 December 2025