Heart to Break

How does it feel
To wind a clock?
Does every turn wheeze?
Does every click tock?
Did time pass day to day?
How was life without the pain?

The clock ticks
And I tock.
My response to time
Every hour a bell chimes,
Is to put the minutes away.

I can hear my grandfather in the other room,
Every single click of mine responded with a boom.
His age is wisdom,
While mine is dull;
Every scent, crack, and whisper,
Responded with love from above.

I go for maintenance
Every day of the week.
Everything wrong with me,
From my build to my teak.
"I'm blue,"
I say,
But they never hear me.
They just mess with my insides
And I'll be back in another week,
Just as weak, just as weak.

Tick, Tock.
I'm still carrying on.
My time is never right,
I've always been very wrong.
But my hull is sharp,
I've never cracked.
I'm too dull to break:
And I'll sit on the rack.

Changed owners,
Changed hand
So many, many times.
When will be the last?
When will I be mine?
I wouldn't hazard to guess forever.
Granddaddy broke so long ago.
I wouldn't hazard to guess never,
But I'll probably be the last to go.

I'm strong,
I'm weak.
I'm forever alone.
But despite my faults,
I never once broke,
But that, they'll never know.

I'll sit in the scrapyard.
I'll tick, and I'll tock,
With all the old clocks
Among the long dead,
Long broken,
Long rot.
I'll sit till they crush me;
I was an ugly old clock.
I'll sit, never broken
Till finally I stop.

***

My heart's set to break.
My heart's set to stop.
My heart's set to despair,
Again and Again.
My shell won't break.
My gears won't stop.
I'll never fall,
Again and Again
Till I'm crushed
By the scrapyard stocks.

ISA