tempus fugit

it says tempus fugit

on grandfather’s clock face  

38 years old

this large presence

                a gift for years of service

first Cullen Drive

then Reay Crescent

and then on Kingsford

and now in our basement

at the bottom of the stairs

tall walnut serene sentry

ticking/chiming

seconds

 minutes

quarter-hours

pendulum ponderous portentous

mom and dad got used to the chimes

and the hourly counting to 12

twice a day

time was their friend

until it wasn’t

memories swept away

like seconds on the pendulum

dad fighting until the end

for a shred of his former self

and mom accepting the failures of the body

minutes running out on that tremendous spirit

now it continues to swing seconds away

in our house

but I can’t make the tolling chimes work properly
no matter how much I try