the broken watch (4/23/09)

I found my watch today.
the one you told me you found
except you hadn't found it.
you left it there.
somebody had shattered the glass.
the hands were still moving
just like clockwork
it was a strong image
time kept marching
despite all that broken glass.
I could've kept it
but my heart wasn’t in it
any more.
I was no Roland
bleeding from a thousand wounds
I retreated
to let my ambitions die.
but it was no real loss
just one less thing that
I can sing songs about.
today was
one of those days
everyone was just
sick of each other
and it got played out
in bad conversations
highway cut-offs
and numerous falsehoods.
if Dante was a gunslinger
there’d have been
a lot of dead liars.
I think my watch had
something to do with it.
I believe in all that
rosaries and black cats
what else am I supposed to believe
except the absurd?