Undefinable

• Joanne Chan, Grade 11
• Poetry
• 2011

Push stop. Push stop.
The slender but decisive arm strides across.
In an act of precision, it quivers. But by the time it realises fault it marches on
To do its job. One-Mississippi. Two-Mississippi.
Consumes the cycle of life
An endless rhythm – the pulse of a heart.

I’m asleep. Yet it envelops, swallows my mind
Whole. Greedily stuffs his mouth full and licks my skull clean.
Drops it. It shatters, as crisp glass, flecked with the gleam of moonlit stars.

Du-du-du-du.
The wrist reaches over, slaps the alarm to snooze.
I can never get enough of sleep. With time.
Undefinable. Existing only with the renewal of recharge. The terminal we depend on.
But ultimately, it is the death of us. When the hand drops lifeless, stone cold.
That is when it freezes. Yes, I have now found the words.
Time: a period of limits.