Sunday Afternoon Poetry: “The Clockmaker’s Sales Pitch”

from Lindsey Funtik, Coordinator of Volunteer Ministries, Ashland First United Methodist Church, Ashland, Ohio.
___
"Look at my flawlessly crafted wares!
The time is never off and
the wood is carved just so and
nowhere in the world is there
more beauty,
more perfection,
than in my little shop."


"But…
the time is wrong,
the design leans left,
and there are veils
around them all…
can you see what I see?
What do you think
you're hiding?
What do you think
you're proving?"

"Wait, don't go!
You haven't seen my best yet!
Watch as I dance
in time with
the ticking;
watch as I sing
like a canary with
the chimes!
Surely you're impressed.
Surely you want them all."

"I hear dissonance.
I see panting, exertion, desperation.
But--"

"But?"
Expectancy,
lashes fluttering.

"But I also see
weathered hands and
shaking limbs and
the particular glint of
eyes manic with exhaustion.
Are you okay?
Do you know how
hard you are trying?"

A frantic smile,
a twitching brow,
and the whole body cracks,
an eggshell that
sighs with relief.
In the rubble,
a field mouse,
soft and small.

A hand,
scarred itself,
lifts it, cradles it.

"That"s better.
That’s more like it."
___
Cross-Posted from Reflections on Faith, Words, and The Holiness of Today