He went boldly up to the clocks and abacuses
marking out his life
and demanded to know why
they refused to see how burnt out he was.
They paused, studying him, and said,
‘We can see. But you didn’t state it before this.
Therefore, it was not our concern.’
And so they went back
to laying out his schedule
as if no interruption had occurred.
‘Hold up. Are you saying
you’ve seen me struggling for months
to cope with everything
you’ve arranged that I haven’t asked for
because I kept my mouth shut?’
‘Yes.’
In response to their answer, he pulled
them all down from the dais
and dissembled them
with his bare hands.
‘From now on, I mark out
my own life,’ he said,
and left them in a heap
of beads, cogs and springs.
Treeshallow Musings 