The Poems of Philip Hamilton

Time

Dear Angelica,

You know how hard our Pa works to support all of us and just to simply be doing something important.

He always seems to write like he's running out of time, though. He barely ever stops to do stuff with us, except when Dad makes him. And even then, he goes right back to work afterwards. I think his constant working isn't only stressing himself out; I think it's also stressing out Dad.

Our and some of the other siblings' lives right now are either focused around school, or they're not old enough to have gone to school yet. Pa's life right now, and probably until he dies or is unable to do it anymore, is his work.

But Dad's life completely revolves around caring for helping us kids. He dedicates his life to helping us with our homework, and helping us fix our hair, and helping little 6-year-old John Jr. clean his small glasses when they get dirty, and feeding, bathing, and putting baby William to bed every day, and making sure James and AJ (Alex Jr.) don't get into any bad trouble, and checking in with Frances every now and then through a phone call, and making dinner, breakfast, and lunch for everyone, including Pa.

But Pa doesn't usually come to the kitchen for meals; Dad has to bring him his food after feeding William, and sit there with him to make sure he doesn't work so much that he forgets to eat the food right in front of him. Dad always has to make sure Pa gets to bed every night after tucking in the younger kids. Dad even has to make sure that Pa takes showers every now and then, because he often forgets, caught up in his work.

So, Dad's life revolves around Pa and us. I feel bad for him, even though he doesn't have an actual job himself, because it's pretty much a full-time job keeping up with everything.

I wonder, although I don't want to think about it, how much time is left for Pa to even spend with us? How much is Dad's hard work really paying off?

So much to do, so little time.
Just enough minutes to make the words rhyme.
Just enough hours to get things done.
Just enough seconds to know if you've won.

Just enough years to become wise.
Just enough years, if you open your eyes.
If you keep your eyes closed, life passes you by,
'Cause there's so much to do and so little time.

With concern,
Philip