Cacti & Paper Airplanes

The Time Keeper

I was born in Massachusetts

Near a river so they say

From there I traveled to Philly

In a box of straw and hay

I came home with the mister

When he was quite young

I kept him to his schedule

Better than town bell rung

Sometimes we had a moment

Where I would get shined

'Til my casing would shimmer

Oh, for those days I pine!

We saw the world together

From rugged forest to coast

I met many an important person

And several kind hosts

One day he left for elsewhere

Leaving me well behind

I knew that he was gone

For a girl had the key to wind

I kept her to her studies

Though she was quite little

On bright sunny days

She would play the fiddle

We moved to a strange house

The girl no longer small

And one day I met a boy

Watching as he too grew tall

Her frail hands gave me 

To the young man one day

And I remember traveling

To the mountains so far away

I saw trees and wooly beasts

Roaming great open plains

And birds of prey would circle

While he held a horse's reins

His will would not leave him

Even as his cough grew

And I was given to the innkeeper

Who hastily bid me adieu

I passed through many a hand

Most not all that kind

Until a found a perch

Behind a painted window sign

My polish was gone

My glass a bit cracked

All the new time keepers left

While antique me just sat

I watched them angrily

For what stories could they tell?

They knew nothing of the world

Just of a factory box cell!

But I was old and dull

Though my hands still twitched

Sat in the window I did

Until came a woman bewitched

I found myself entombed

In layers of thick cloth

I will admit I nearly panicked

But I am grateful I did not

She lifted me from my grave

And gave me a refreshing dip

With a polishing for the ages

She even fixed my glass chip

When I saw the golden chain

My gears and springs raced

I wish she could have seen

The wide smile on my face

Here I live in Massachusetts

Near the ocean bright and blue

I travel the world in a pocket

Time keeper through and through