Time and Money

 

 

I believe it was a rich man who said

That time is money

Which suggests to me and perhaps to you

If you haven’t time you haven’t any.

 

 I also heard another say

“This will buy you some time!”

And the reference was to money,

Money was on the line.

 

And so, to help one make up his mind

The offer could be money

Because for some, money can buy time

And time therefore is money.

 

 

Quite fallacious, I would say

And I will tell you the reason why,

A rich man may buy all that he wants

But there’s one thing he cannot buy.

 

He can know how much money he has

But he can never know how much time,

And when his time has come to go

He wouldn’t even know a dime.

 

That’s when time’s clock will chime

And he won’t even know when

For at that particular stroke of time

Both his money and time will end.

 

 

 

And so, I pose this question

To the wealthy Elon Musk:

Where will you be, O mighty one,

When your money becomes as rust?

 

 

And to another man I ask,

Meaning the money-favoured Bill Gates,

What sound to you will your billions make

When you are lying in state?

 

 

And how can I leave out the Bezos

Whose Christian name is Jeff?

How will you order your wealthy empire

When your eyes are closed in death?

 

To be able to generate their wealth

The rich will need much time

But when that time has come to an end

They can’t even save a dime.

Here is the major difference, I repeat,

That should permeate one’s mind:

You can know how much money you have

But you cannot know how much time.

 

Stewart Russell © December 7, 2022