THE LOOM OF TIME

 

                THE LOOM OF TIME

            “Loom” is defined as a machine for making cloth by twisting threads between other threads which go in a different direction.

            “Time” is defined as  ---the continuous, measured progression of existence –past, present, and future ---quantified in seconds, minutes, hours, days, and years.

            Some of the frequently used synonyms  of time are ---age, duration, span, period, interval, occasion, moment, epoch, era, while, spell, stretch, term, etc.

            Given below is an anonymous poem titled THE LOOM OF TIME. According to some of its literary interpretations the poem depicts life as a “web” or tapestry, where God controls the shutters i.e. events to create a hidden, beautiful, pattern.

            The poem says in the very beginning that 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.

            Man’s life is his fate which has its duration fixed by God. Its day to day events become visible only when they occur but what will happen in future remains a secret.

            The English poet Alexander Pope (1688-1744) says in his An Essay on Man: Epistle 1

                        Heav’n from all creatures hides the book of fate,

                        All but the page prescrib’d, their present state

 

            The threads of life’s web do not depict the same colour day after day. They are changed by God as and when He likes. As the anonymous poet says:

                                    He only knows its beauty,

                                    And guides the shuttles which hold

                                    The threads so unattractive,

                                    As well as the threads of gold.      

The full text of the poem follows:

 

Man’s life is laid in the loom of time

To a pattern he does not see

While the weavers and the shuttles fly

Till the dawn of eternity

 

Some shuttles are filled with silver threads

And some with threads of gold

While often but the darker threads

Are all that they may hold.

 

But the weaver watches with

Skilful eye

Each shuttle fly to and fro

And sees 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 masters skill

And placed in the web with care.

 

God only knows it’s 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 shuttle cease to fly

Shall God reveal the pattern

And explain the reason why

The dark threads were as needful

In the weavers skilful hand

As the threads of gold and silver

For the pattern which he planned.

 

                                                            *******

G.R.Kanwal

7^th May 2026