Tick-Tock

Tick-tock…

There are times when

the birdsong stops, when the sun

hides behind clouds that do not bring rain;

when the rivers run low and muddy; when nothing seems

to work as it should; when old griefs whisper in the wee hours

and play their lamentations and sorrows over and over and over;

when the world is eerie and haunted, but the endless dreams

of neighbors’ dreams are full of mystery and renewal,

yet we stare at cracks in the ceiling, reliving

those things that refuse to surrender

to reason, then rise, prowl in the

close darkness of 3 a.m., an

 unjust sentence to be

served out slowly

tick-tock