Time is a thief in a two-faced watch

tick-tocking between deception and declaration—

I am late says the hour when the truth is I'm early

for my own obituary, already

digging graves between the seconds, planting

cadaver clocks where flowers should grow.

Now read this backwards:

grow should flowers where clocks cadaver

planting seconds the between graves digging

already obituary own my for early

I'm truth the when hour the says late am I

—deception and declaration between

tick-tocking watch two-faced a in

thief a is time.

Caught in this palindrome prison,

I'm the guard and getaway driver,

filling out my own wanted poster

with yesterday's fingerprints,

tomorrow's alibi—a paradox

paroled to repeat itself

l i k e

o

t

a

n

t i

p o e

t

s

o

r

w

k

c

a

b

Here's my confession written in disappearing ink

on self-destructing paper:

{[read between the lines not yet written]}

These are my last words

until my next first breath,

when I'll rewind the womb's recording

and commit suicide in reverse,

becoming unborn

as the midwife cries "death first!"

and my dying scream is a baby crying

"hello it's me I've come back to leave"

Eleventh hour, she stands

on the clock tower ledge

holding scissors and string,

cutting the cord

that ties the hour hand

to the hanging man's neck,

severing

determinism from

Ch r o m a t i c

o

d

e

s

c

e

n d

i n

g

syllables that split

infinities with precision

of a splitting atom's

personal ad:

"Single nihilist seeks same

for annihilating dance

at end of rope/time. Swipe left

on existence. Bring matches."

But listen—

beneath the tick,

behind the tock,

between the ticktock's

lockstep rhyme,

there's another sound:

the voice

of a childhood

watch

that never learned

to speak in numbers,

only in echoes

of promised summers

that never came

but always are

still coming

still coming

still

Clockwork angels

with rusted wings

perch on my shoulders,

one whispering

"tempus fugit"

the other

"tempus fuggedaboutit"

while I—

Icarus with a stopwatch

instead of wings—

calculate exactly

how long it takes

to fall upward

into

the

hourglass

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sand