New Clocks Set Ahead

CLOCKS SET AHEAD

Clocks set ahead one hour
but darkness is just as dark

Darkness after all is timeless
Darkness doesn’t polish its shoes

Whoever’s left in the darkness
stands ghostly in the mist

Shades and shadows blend together
One voice cracks the darkness

Every darkness has some light in it
Every light some dark

The eye alone sees timelessly
light and dark as God enters it

Then the dome of the sky slides off
and we see worlds we hadn’t seen before

Hidden behind dazzling nets of stars
or circulating in the dark between them

From a darkness that’s not dark we come
To a darkness that’s not dark we go

Everything’s wrapped in the arms of darkness
the loving arms of the deep darkness

Even as the clock’s set an hour forward
and the sun comes up an hour late

Creatures know what time it is
So far the birds are quiet

The trees await the orders of the day
to continue their silent vigils

3/11/07 (from Invention of the Wheel)

Categories: Poems