A Lifetime of Music

Tick-tock tick-tock.
Carved by old weary hands of the carpenter.
Case of wood and polished ivory.
Elegant as the music it hears.
Though it stands solemn as time goes by.
Tick-tock tick-tock.

The old souls of fellows are carried by angels
to play at the feet of God,
so new hands touch the metronome.
New songs, new joy.
Still keeping the rhythmic beat.
Tick-tock tick-tock.
The metronome remembers the first song it heard.
All the joy it felt, when the notes were hit right
and the smile that came after.
Now abandoned, cast-away
as if b r
o
k
e
n.
Growing old with the tiresome books
on a shelf, all alone.
Tick-tock tick-tock.

The sense of time abandons the ancient wooden spirit,
as its gears wheeze and its pendulum groans with every breath.
A lifetime of music can be heard all around,
when the last tick-tock of the metronome plays.