Clocks don't understand Time. <br /> <br />If you ask them <br /> <br />(like a mad man) <br /> <br />they just repeat repeatedly blindly endlessly <br />tick mechanical tock. <br /> <br />Clocks only understand <br />movement & sound. <br /> <br />As a child <br />I shocked a clock <br />by taking it apart <br />to discover there was <br />really nothing there. <br /> <br />The clock was speech less <br />at being <br />found out. <br /> <br />Death doesn't understand Death <br />it's just a job it has to do. <br /> <br />Death doesn't understand Death <br />only humans do. <br /> <br />If you ask it <br />(crazy with pain) <br /> <br />it can not even begin to explain. <br /> <br />Death tries to draw <br />a final breath <br /> <br />but it's efforts are childish <br />...a few meaningless scribbles. <br /> <br />as a child <br />Death came & asked if I was <br />coming out to play? <br /> <br />I hid inside myself <br />until he went away. <br /> <br />Death still <br />hasn't gone away. <br /> <br />Love understands Love. <br /> <br />If you ask it <br /> <br />(completely out of your mind) <br /> <br />Love will tell you <br />it's the presence <br /> <br />of someone who without <br />their presence <br /> <br />the world would not be <br />the world. <br /> <br />Love is the absence <br />of Death...the loss...of Time. <br /> <br />As a child <br />I found <br /> <br />you <br /> <br />just before Death & Time <br />took you. <br /> <br />I hold <br />your name <br /> <br />a scrap <br />of colour <br /> <br />that I still think of <br />as mine <br /> <br />despite what the clock says <br /> <br />despite what Death says <br /> <br />your name <br />is Love.<br /><br />Dónall Dempsey<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/clocks-don-t-understand-time/
