Time
Wax Poetic Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I no longer listened
I was born at 12:30 in the morning
By 1 AM I was certain that I would no longer remember by past
By 1:40 I had forgotten my name
By 2:12 the ancients had bid me farewell
By 2:30 I had swallowed a foreign grand
By 2:40 I had begun to hallucinate
It's all coming back to me
I met my parent's spirit guides at 4:30
It was they who told me of the sun
It was not what I expected
It only seemed to hint at light
By 6:17 I had decided what I wanted to be
By 6:18 I had discovered my shell
At 6:19 I began the process of dying
At 7 o'clock I made an attempt to be perfectly still
And jumped when I felt my soul fission
I jumped when I felt my soul fission
At the moment I learned to tell time
I no longer listened
When I began to tell time I began to no longer listen
I was born at 12:30 in the morning
By 1 AM I was certain that I would no longer remember by past
By 1:40 I had forgotten my name
By 2:12 the ancients had bid me farewell
By 2:30 I had swallowed a foreign grand
By 2:40 I had begun to hallucinate
By 6:17 I had decided what I wanted to be
By 6:18 I discovered my shell
At 6:19 I began the process of dying
At 7 o'clock I made an attempt to be perfectly still
And jumped when I felt my soul fission
I jumped when I felt my soul fission
The lyrics to Wax Poetic featuring Saul Williams's song "Time" read like a poem about the passage of time and the changes that occur as we journey through life. From the moment the singer learns to tell time, they no longer feel present in the world around them. The specific times listed in the second stanza mark significant moments in the singer's life, moments of forgetfulness, goodbye, and change. At 4:30, the singer meets their parent's spirit guides and learns about the sun, which "only seemed to hint at light," suggesting a level of disillusionment with the world around them.
By 6:17, the singer has decided what they want to be, and by 6:18, they discover their "shell," perhaps referring to their physical body. At 6:19, the singer begins the process of dying, and at 7 o'clock, they try to be "perfectly still," but jump when they feel their soul "fission." The poem suggests a search for meaning and purpose in life, as well as an underlying feeling of disconnection and untetheredness that comes with the passage of time.
Overall, "Time" is a thought-provoking piece that invites contemplation on the nature of time and our place in the world.
Line by Line Meaning
At the moment I learned to tell time
When I learned to tell time, I stopped paying attention to things around me.
I no longer listened
I stopped listening to the world around me when I started keeping track of time.
I was born at 12:30 in the morning
I started my life at half past midnight.
By 1 AM I was certain that I would no longer remember by past
Within an hour, I was sure that I would forget my past.
By 1:40 I had forgotten my name
In less than two hours, I had already forgotten my own name.
By 2:12 the ancients had bid me farewell
Just over two hours later, I felt like I had left the world of the ancients behind.
By 2:30 I had swallowed a foreign grand
By the time it was 2:30, I had ingested a pill from another place.
By 2:40 I had begun to hallucinate
Within ten minutes, the foreign substance caused me to start seeing things that weren't really there.
By 6:17 I had decided what I wanted to be
After several hours, I finally made a decision about what kind of person I wanted to be.
By 6:18 I discovered my shell
One minute later, I found out about the outer layer that makes up who I am.
At 6:19 I began the process of dying
At the same time the next minute, I started to feel like my life was slipping away.
At 7 o'clock I made an attempt to be perfectly still
Another hour later, I tried to be as motionless as possible.
And jumped when I felt my soul fission
But I was startled by the feeling of my soul splitting apart.
I jumped when I felt my soul fission
My soul separating made me feel like I had to jump.
Contributed by Connor D. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@PyroMynx
This one is one of my favorites from the album. Damn. I love this one!
@sanityisnofun
i have to come back to this and play it ..-love
@zeldaklufkee174
I've spent 2 months trying to find this
@malexcoughlin4959
Interesting reading these comments. I didn't think it was about a hallucinogenic drug trip, I thought it was about being born and losing remembrance and connection to the spiritual world. Life is just the slow process of dying right? :-)
@alberts1985
witches brew: fire in the chalice
@94style
@unterfahrt My pleasure.
@the1nonlyfanny
@Ellarn1 if I didnt know better I'd say he's walking you through a trip....forgetting your name, ancients, hallucinations, feeling of dying, and being still
@darenunlimited
So filthy.
@BurndaRookie
wuhaa
@malexcoughlin4959
And as soon as I learned to tell time
I no longer listened
I was born at 12:30 in the morning
By 1 AM I was certain that I would no longer remember by past
By 1:40 I had forgotten my name
By 2:12 the ancients had bid me farewell
By 2:30 I had swallowed a foreign grand
By 2:40 I had begun to hallucinate
It's all coming back to me
It's all coming back to me
I met my parent's spirit guides at 4:30
It was they who told me of the sun
It was not what I expected
It only seemed to hint at light
By 6:17 I had decided what I wanted to be
By 6:18 I had discovered my shell
At 6:19 I began the process of dying
At 7 o'clock I made an attempt to be perfectly still
And jumped when I felt my soul fission
I jumped when I felt my soul fission
At the moment I learned to tell time
I no longer listened
When I began to tell time I began to no longer listen
I was born at 12:30 in the morning
By 1 AM I was certain that I would no longer remember by past
By 1:40 I had forgotten my name
By 2:12 the ancients had bid me farewell
By 2:30 I had swallowed a foreign grand
By 2:40 I had begun to hallucinate
By 6:17 I had decided what I wanted to be
By 6:18 I discovered my shell
At 6:19 I began the process of dying
At 7 o'clock I made an attempt to be perfectly still
And jumped when I felt my soul fission
I jumped when I felt my soul fission