Clock. Enlightening.

I am all the clock-wiser
With four arms extended.
Two to dance around the table.
Two to tell me when to stop.

Ticking, clicking, poking, and prodding away
The day.
Feeling enlightened when I deduce
One cannot count down hours in a line
When they only run in circles.

Or I am moments passed
Hunted and tracked.
Or I am the twitching ball in a skull
Staring at numbers on a wall.

Because the smartest animal on the planet
Has not much better to do
Than twirl its thumbs
In rhythm with a tocking clock.

Thump. Thump.
Tick. Tock.
I may finally understand
That five-o-clock shadows are metaphors
For the human lifespan.

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