Time

A poem from a former life

Time

The pendulum swings back and forth
The snail spirals down
Pallets flavour south to north
As weights favour the ground
All the while, wheels turn
Escape on angled teeth
Pivots in greased bearings burn
And gears spin beneath
They turn behind a painted face
As hands, they do the rounds
As dials, Sun and Moon, they race
Our time is lost and found
In jewelled bearings, facets hold
We watch a balance chained
A mainspring, automatic folds
In barrels its restrained
We only get so many winds
Before that final sweep
But all that time we lose and find
Is ours stored to keep
Hours, minutes, seconds go
The time racks up and down
The pendulum swings to and fro
… it'll never take our crown