Day532【Delay】

A daily monochrome photo-poetry series by naozo. Since 2025, each work pairs a moment from everyday life with a poem from NZ, the artist's future self. Through glass, light, and silence, the series turns self-doubt into dialogue.

NZPHOTOGRAPH & naozo

Day532【Delay】

DEAR naozo,

Were you late

Or not

Which

do you think

The clock

Will say you were late

But

Is that truly so

People chase time

Schedules

Expectations

And then

Blame themselves

for falling behind

You should have risen

You should have arrived

You should have done better

Those expectations

Push people forward

But

Sometimes I wonder

People fear

being late to time

Yet perhaps

What they should fear

Is ignoring the voice

of their own body

The mind says

Keep going

Not enough

Try harder

But

The body

Is not as skilled

at lying

When it is tired

It says so

When it reaches its limit

It says so

Ignore that voice

for too long

And one morning

The body answers

By refusing to move

Is oversleeping

Laziness

I do not think so

Of course

Responsibility matters

Promises matter

But

One delay

Does not erase

your worth

The clock moves

Yet

Life too

Has its own pace

Perhaps delay

Is not a defeat

against time

But the final letter

The body sends

To the mind

from NZ

This story is a work of fiction. Except for the named individuals, all elements are products of imagination. The boundary between reality and fiction is intentionally ambiguous, and its interpretation is left to the reader.