The Timekeeper

—after George Flegel’s Dessert Still Life (1620s)
and Carl Sandburg’s Four Preludes on Playthings 
of the Wind

We have our moments, the scenes perfectly set.
Maybe we’re romping in the autumn field
just after sunset, hay freshly-cut and baled,
suffused in soft blue light; or we’re sauntering
through the park in early February, awed by
a single daffodil gussying up the newly-raked,
russet-red pine straw; or perhaps we are
conversing with family at the evening meal
complete with meat and fine wine and
confectioneries ribboned in cinnamon and
snow. And crack! Time lowers his baton.
The scene shifts, the music changes.
Enter crows, the rain, the rats and lizards.

Published: Verse Virtual, 2024