Be as patient as the century plant?
Daily I check it out through my window on the courtyard,
Peer through my phone-camera to examine the blooms,
Try to find a hint of blossoms to come. 
But the century plant is on its own timeline and will not rush its blossoms or its death.   After all, what else takes a century?  

The Hundred-Years-War,
Galileo’s theories.
Vermeer’s paintings.
Bach’s Baroque.
The Century of Progress World’s Fair in Chicago, 1933,
Weathering the noses on Mount Rushmore.
How the mesas along I-40 will look different.
The flying cars in The Jetsons
Change in the Catholic Church (well perhaps not).
The light in the eyes of the last World War I veteran.
Light from some nearby galaxy.
Nothing in the embrace of a lover.