Near the Black Forest

Living in a house 
  near the Black Forest, 
  without any clocks, 
  she's begun 

  to listen to the walls. 
  Her neighbors have clocks, 
  not one 
  but twenty clocks apiece. 

  Sometimes 
  a claque of clocks 
  applauds 
  the passing of each day. 

  Listen to the walls 
  & wind your watch. 
  Poor love, poor love, 
  have they caught you 

  by the pendulum? 
  Do they think they've 
  got you stopped? 
  Have you 

  already gathered how, 
  living near the Black Forest, 
  she gets by 
  on cups of borrowed time? 

  © Erica Mann Jong