Watch and Pen

By Cliff Lake

 

Watch and Pen

 

Tick, tick, tick,

The time ticks away.

What was given becomes taken,

What was known is wronged,

What was had is gone,

What time we had has passed.

Tick, tick, tick,

The hour has grown much too late.

 

So slow the changes,

The coming short-changes,

The rearranges,

Meaning to estrange us.

What is the takeaway?

What will they take today?

Who will stop the decay?

What am I allowed to say?

 

Drip, drip, drip,

The ink drips away.

What was written becomes unwritten,

What was said is unsaid,

What was there is gone,

What we had is no more.

Drip, drip, drip,

There is no more ink on that page.

 

So slow the changes,

The coming short-changes,

The rearranges,

Meaning to estrange us.

What is the takeaway?

What will they take today?

Who will stop the decay?

What am I allowed to say?

 

Chip, chip, chip,

They keep chipping away.

What was stable becomes unstable,

What was solid is worn.

What we stood on slips away,

What was rock is sand.

Chip, chip, chip,

The foundation is become dust.

 

So slow the changes,

The coming short-changes,

The rearranges,

Meaning to estrange us.

What is the takeaway?

What will they take today?

Who will stop the decay?

What am I allowed to say?

 

So many captains left to coerce,

So many rights left to reverse.

It is bad and it will get worse,

All of this for the sake of the purse.

 

Tick, tick, tick,

The time ticks away.

Drip, drip, drip,

The ink drips away.

What time we had is passed.

What was written becomes unwritten.

Drip, drip, drip,

Tick, tick, tick…

 

Cliff Lake 9/18/2025

Copyright © Clifford Lake 2025

Location: Washington, DC, USA

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