Life Like Clockwork

Tick

Tick

Tick

I wonder why

The foolish words of mankind

Trick each other into believing

That clocks tock

For I hear a tick

A tick now

A tick before

A tick forever

Ticks that tick my life away

The hours dwindle into nothing

And I lose myself in the steady heartbeat of time

Tick

Tick

Tick

The sound is soothing

Like you have your head rested

Upon a large drum

That vibrates

and sends chills into your soul

The nonexistent tocks rock the pattern

Like waves against a rocky outcropping

They ask

"What is a tick without a tock?"

It is peace

It is rhythm

It is life

The clock ticks by

As the seasons change

From hues of soddened ground and ashen opal

To fireworks of green and the clearest blue

And still I sit

Wasting away with the aging clock

The cold black arms of destiny

Circle the timespan like ice skaters

On a frosty rink

Fingers find the faded wood

and the clicking bronze gears

They tune it as it fails

They dust it as it grays

And all too soon

I must depart

My hands folded neatly upon my lap

And my crinkled eyes still turned upon the clock

The clock which so many wait anxiously to speed forward

So they may rush time and cherish nothing

And as the light fades

And the heavy darkness of drifting approaches

I can suddenly hear

The fateful and unforgettable

Tock

That so many have doubted.