they buy a clock

a story i read
goes on and on
about a family who lived
long ago
with a horse
and a cow
and candle lights
and a shaky bridge
across a creek.
one day
they ride to the village
they buy a clock
tick-tock
tick-tock
the first they have ever had.
they wind the clock
and through the night
the story flows on
tick-tock
tick-tock
through the day
and through the night
day and night
and night and day
now they know the time
nothing remains the same.

(the other animals
are still afloat
on sun and stars
on rain and wind
and the chip-chip stories
of the birds and mice.
the human animals go by the clock
time to rise!
it's six o'clock)