The Clock on the Wall

“The Clock on the Wall”

That clock! The clock with cruelty, unmovable.
Telling time to be forever in motion.
The ticking, a deafening sound. 
Marked by grime. 
Yellowed by generations, grown digital.
By generations choosing to be illiterate.
The face, weathered from gazing faces…from faces.
Forever burdened by the echo. 
TOCK! 
Each minute, reversing youth. 
Spinning hours that grin madly at the crows.
Birds destined to stomp divots into flesh.
Surrounding lids and lashes. 
TICK-TOCK!
That hellish clock. 
Stealing jewelry and lovers and future plans
Dreams given up in anguish to dead time, in the night. 
The second hand, proud, purposeful.
Its movement pushing the aged into graves.
Eternally passing hours.
Laughing wildly at years gone by.
Heckling decades…lost. 
TICK, TICK! 
The ticking of that god-damned clock! 
Mocking the genius gone mad. 
A shocking reminder of all that is forgotten.
That all will be…forgotten.
The unforgiving clock.
Moving time.
Time, a father, whose knee will be outgrown. 
A chastising father. 
Protecting nothing. 
Holding nothing. 
Nothing calm.
Holding nothing safe.
Nothing still.
Curse that clock on the wall.
On walls dropping picture frames. 
Loosened by rusty nails.  
Images of families smothered in broken glass.
The clock. 
TICK-TOCK!
Burning down homes that cradled infants.
With fatty folds and creamy dreams. 
The clock, convincing people to set alarms. 
Convincing people to startle the soul…
Into a brand-new day.

Copyright © | Year Posted 2024



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Date: 12/15/2024 5:55:00 AM
I love Time themes. You captured its cruelty in the act of being cruel. Beautiful Mary Lynn
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Date: 12/4/2024 11:54:00 AM
Hi, Mary Lynn. I love the hyperbole! I also appreciate the last lines, "The clock, convincing people to set alarms. / Convincing people to startle the soul… / Into a brand-new day." A FAV poem for me. Welcome to Poetry Soup!
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Nakoneczny Avatar
Mary Lynn Nakoneczny
Date: 12/6/2024 9:40:00 AM
Thank you so much. This is one of my favorites, as well.
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