Timing

The trouble with pleasure is the timing
It can overtake me without warning
And can be gone before I know it is here
It can stand facing me unrecognized
While I am remembering somewhere else
In another age or someone not seen
For years and never to be seen again
In this world and it seems that I cherish
Only now a joy I was not aware of
When it was here although it remains
Out of reach and will not be caught or named
Or called back and if I could make it stay
As I want to it would turn back into pain

-W.S. Merwin