Despair

Every afternoon at 12:24 Dwell the long gray moments in the middle Bewildered and lost in a dark tunnel With no merciful light on either side Five days a week just at 12:24 Dwell relentless wormlike tickings of time And every time I look, hoping for hope The cold face always says 12:24 Stuck in the road, rolled into the gutter Down to a silent screeching stop, and I Can’t go forwards or not even backwards Time’s cruel trick leaves me at 12:24 In some years it might be 12:55 And heaven’s trumpets sing Oh glory! But Every afternoon at 12:24 I despair.