Upon Time & Flight

Once upon a world,

when we smiled with our eyes,

and laughed with our bellies

before the hands of the clock were worn with age,

before the bells stopped chiming,

before the batteries ran out.

Time, the thief who stole

our mother’s everlasting compassion,

our father’s undying love.

The crook who took

her from him,

him from her.

The pickpocket

who left us all alone,

searching through the pouches

of our empty lives,

stumbling drunkenly

through dark days,

and watched us finally drown

right before the clock of light.

We held on to memory

with stacks of yellowed,

water-damaged journals.

We had frantically scribbled our legacy in

before blowing out candle after candle for years.

We gripped onto emotions,

with the music of star-crossed lovers,

and true love’s kiss.

The ones we imitated in vain.

Time, the teacher

who suddenly pushed me off the edge of a cliff,

when I was too afraid to fly.

Comments