I could...

tell an old story

I could write poetry

But I'll settle for stories

.

A hymn of a man

Or a woman

Or a...

.

A song for who's listening

A tale for our time

.

Yours, mine,

Inside looking somewhere

Is that a sign?

.

Someone became a someone

Who could parrot, time after time...

.

It’s ok

I’m doing just fine

.

So the footsteps that brought her out of a wooden shell

Onto unmarked treads

Steady worn

Stayed unseen

A pavement, a sidewalk, a footpath

.

Lines lost

To our selves

.

Un-tread were the hoofs, the horseshoes on her heels

Stories followed her

A man had to make them

For a meal

For protection

For all those dependent

.

And generations that followed

Failures that could not heal

.

So one left the tread

They could call them lost

.

One found a clock

.

What will you be?

Asked the melting clock,

Will you be someone?

Of fame

Of fortune

Or pleasure

Or procreation

.

Devotion

.

Will you be?

.

The one watched the ones that clicked up and added

That circled

That ticked

That created habits

.

And they added the time, and they added the moment

.

And still they subtracted

Every stillness that was owed them

.

And the clock asked again,

Who have you become?

A laze

A beggared

A bastard

A bum

.

One watched the clock

And more ones were now added

.

None could they answer

.

I could...

They replied,

.

I could...

.

Leverage wealth for a change

My ideas for now fame

.

Emotion for reaction

Politic for distraction

.

A poem for a heart

.

A life dedicated to art

.

A mind for a prize

A body for a penny

A hand for more plenty

A voice for more lies

.

More...

.

I could...

.

Sell my age for some gold

A me bought and sold

.

What would it cost?

Oh ticking of time?

What would you sell?

To stop

All that melting

.

You're dying

.

Like me

.

We're melting together

.

And the clock ticked and dripped and showed nothing to them

Time cannot die, for your death is so measured!

I am the keeper

.

The...

.

All!

Of life!

I am the treasure!

.

And so the one left, with no time in one pocket

One had no more instance

No one could stop it

.

Two shoes were soon ripped

And one mind distant drifted

And one had nothing to carry

But one’s self

In a locket

.

One found her just walking

They smiled,

She'll do fine

She'll be ok

.

It'll be different

.

Just this one time

.

But she saw the one

Don't leave, we can stop it!

She plead with just one

.

But if we stopped

They replied,

How would time tick on?

.

Who would write a better song?

.

My words have been spoken

My feet are then worn

I no longer gather

And hide from the storm

.

Fight, fight for me

She said with a tear

.

One stopped for that moment,

One last wisdom for you

I'll gift you my only

How to fight without fear

.

You could...

One said,

I could be just like you

Think just like you too

.

I could join a group

Think just like they do

.

I could...

.

But I couldn't do it

I

Me that would agree

.

If I lived your life

Who would be you?

.

I guess...

.

You could be me

.

I could fade away

Cause we all do someday

.

Then being me

Could be…

Oh so easy

.

And then I could...

.

I could hide in the hills

Advertise I lived so different

Chasing beauty or thrills

.

Fighting for someone else's idyll

.

I don't know of many

.

Lest of all

Which are my dreams

Which of yours are my life

Which of my steps aren't really mine

.

Every day I don a shoe

Wondering

Are you walking here too?

.

So she said,

But your shoes they are gone

And soon mine will be too

.

So they said,

You'll need this

.

That day you can look

Like I will soon do

.

You can look in this locket

Inside will be you

.

And one opened the clasp and the shield swung out steady

And one took one last breath

One remembered

.

A time lived

.

Never empty

.

Inside the locket

Life didn't melt

.

The hand slowed for just one

For an unending moment

She watched

.

One

.

Stop with the clock