Once upon a time (many tears ago now)
somebody stole your stuff (yours, not Yours; relax)
when you lived in Boston (you, not You; six years total).
One afternoon you got home from school (you were a student then; You have the point now)
to the apartment (then you were a renter; now you share a house with the bank)
to find the one door to the place (you always closed and locked)
lying in the floor (on the inside, not the outside).
You made a list (right then and there)
of the list of things involved (that you've lost since then, the list of lists, that is)
and here's what you remember (but not what you forgot):
Lost
Not lost
Found
Recovered
Gone for good
Here to stay
Here's the run down [the low down, too, but neither the run up nor the low up; some words get cheated (like you did when your stuff got taken) and some marks of punctuation, such as the three that follow)]:
You lost stuff but not the space it was in; in fact you recovered that.
You lost the time it took to clean up the stuff not lost but not the time it took to take the stuff taken.
You recovered the time it took to keep the stuff; now both are gone for good, the time, the stuff.
You found the lost stuff was yours to keep but for a time, not forever.
Ditto for the stuff not lost, The Not-lost Stuff, most of which is gone now for good.
You're here to stay for some time to come.
Here are some options for what's to come; but not all; it's hard to tell what's not yet come:
You could lose yourself [maybe to find it (same one, or some other, you think?)].
You could find yourself (if fake, maybe in some recovery; if true, maybe in some delight).
You could be taken away [(like your stuff) only to have St. Peter ask, where's your stuff?]
You could leave forever (your least favorite option since it takes away all others).
Afterword
Now, there's now and not now; not now is then, either before or after.
Then there's then and not then; not then is now, neither before nor after.
Still, there's yet and not yet; but not yet is yet, or is it? Go figure.
Yet, that word small, harbors such nuance, vast and varied, it has a list of its own:
Now, at the present time (Bravely) You, thief, you can't leave yet.
Now, after all time has elapsed (Nervously) Haven't you left yet?
Up to now, thus far (Expectantly) Has the thief left yet?
Time still remaining (Prompting) There's yet a chance to leave.
At some future time (Hopefully) The thief will leave yet, to be sure.
Time continuance from preceding time (Fearfully) You could yet hear the breathing.
In addition; further still (Matter of fact) The thief was yet more thorough.
As much as; even (Disappointed) Beforehand the thief neither called, nor yet waited for an invitation.
Nevertheless (Sympathetic) The thief seemed greedy, yet selective.
However (Empathetic) The thief seemed greedy, yet proved to be in real need.
AS YET, up to now (Discouraging) These words are not as yet at an end.
HAVE YET TO DO (Encouraging) The last word has yet to arise, no, this is it; no, it is it.
