Telling Time

Telling Time David J Walker I It was our Kindergarten Dissertation Tying our shoes in neat bow knots Counting to100 And the recognition of the trek Of the Big and Small hands of The wall clock in relation to Recess and lunch and time to go home II The race against the clock Leaves one numb The day is never done as long as time presents itself in the night sky Baiting you to decipher its Enigmatic code III There is no time my professor said Everything appears and disappears in the now Every line of the universe Measures another place and time I am but a spirit He said Materiality is the illusion that we all see But never agree upon IV Will the clock chime on the Stage of space Demarking today from tomorrow What is there to lose in Closing the shades of a picture window V The thing is No matter what you say The clock runs Deaf and dumb And blind to the point of oblivion The Tic-Tok of the wall clock Picks pockets like a common street thief waiting for you to awaken VI But I remember however imperfectly There were days before these That I can still reach with my hands And we can agree To some extent Were real That’s how I know I can tell time By the scars and the stars that had to come from somewhere