Sorry I’m Late

My watch around my wrist

Not too tight to make an impression

Finest time piece from Mesozoic times

Even a collection can’t buy time

With paisley shirts and penny loafers

Opa’s cuckoo clock

From the streets of Gießen

To Kristallnacht’s escape

Discovered it was a dentist’s office

Now a student’s flat

Sister’s clock radio with the red digital digits

Made of plastic wood

With wire cord too short

Alarm set early and snooze always pressed

Upside down books get you nowhere

Grandfather clock down the hall

Chimes on every hour like a soldier

From Bethlehem to Queens

Ghosts never left home

Elijah waltzes in without veto

Tick Tock the clock the students spy on

Until school day’s end

Hanging on institutional green paint

Recess at play be gay

Jeanne gave chocolates behind the teacher’s desk

A lost man in a meadow

Taught me to read the sun

As he bled from his wounds

His blood mixed with the dirt

If only he called ahead

I apologize I’m late.

© 2025 David Greg Harth

25.04.14.15.06.17@130BklynNYC