Songs on the Wind...

By tick and by tock Time’s doors open and lock

While, wide-eyed we hold and let go

And struggle to master the art of the clock

That vexes and appeases so

How slippery its spheres, shaped in soft smiles and tears

How fixed, its routine repertoire

By tick and by tock fills up days-seasons-years

White butterflies flitting through fire

Remiss is time’s good morning-to-goodnight kiss

This falling-while-learning-to-fly

By tick and by tock becomes a new what-is

And every hello, a good-bye

We fix our eyes on a prize beyond reach

‘Of what was and what waits to be’

Moving to a tempo that moments beseech

In a tick by tock balladry

It scars April hearts and sears smooth skin with roads

It leaves well-laid plans in its wake

By tick and by tock, star-like capsules explode

To settle in love’s tender ache

How hardly we held it and it disappears

A rhythm that none can rescind

By tick and by tock, slick half-breaths turn to years

And years into songs on the wind

© Janet Martin