The classroom clocks have stopped today;
electric pulses have gone silent.
A boy his age – he should have known.
Disruption, says an adult in the room.
I mean, what boy his age would care
what makes the inner workings of time?
We thought it would be you, the man
in blue looks the boy from head to toe.
Split second decisions are what matter here.
The hour hands have turned to blades
while automatic fingers tap against veneer.
The adults in the room begin to wonder
where that ticking’s coming from.
Wires and circuits change their function to match
the color of the hands that hold them.
And adults look with suspicion at the boy
who should have known, who’s grown
still and silent, like a broken clock.
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