We Are the Time
We Are the Time - meaning Summary
Flux and Identity Entwined
Borges uses Heraclitus's image of flux to explore identity, memory, and impermanence. The poem likens humans to a river and to the Greek who sees his changing reflection, suggesting selfhood is simultaneous movement and observation. Loss and passing are constant—"everything goes away"—yet the poem also hints at a stubborn residue or lament that endures. It compresses philosophical paradoxes of change and what, if anything, persists.
Read Complete AnalysesWe are the time. We are the famous metaphor from Heraclitus the Obscure. We are the water, not the hard diamond, the one that is lost, not the one that stands still. We are the river and we are that greek that looks himself into the river. His reflection changes into the waters of the changing mirror, into the crystal that changes like the fire. We are the vain predetermined river, in his travel to his sea. The shadows have surrounded him. Everything said goodbye to us, everything goes away. Memory does not stamp his own coin. However, there is something that stays however, there is something that bemoans.
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