In “10 of the Best Poems About Time”, the blog, Interesting Literature, provides links to (and a brief analysis of) 10 poems dealing with time and (naturally enough) clocks, https://interestingliterature.com/2019/12/01/10-of-the-best-poems-about-time/.

I have long been fascinated by time and well remember listening to the ticking of a wall mounted pendulum clock, as a young boy whilst attending Wavertree School for the Blind in Liverpool.

In my home I have several clocks, including a tingtang clock, which lives on the bookcase in my living room. It is this clock, which was manufactured in 1910, from which inspiration for the below poem is drawn:

“My old clock I wind

And much philosophy therein find.

I can bring

The pendulum’s swing

To a stop with my hand;

Yet I cannot command

Time to default

On his duty and halt

The passing of the years.

He has no ears

For our laughter and tears

And his sickle will swing on

Long after we are gone”.

(“My Old Clock I Wind”, first appeared in “My Old Clock I Wind” and Other Poems”, https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0735JBVBG/. It can also be found in my “Selected Poems”, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07WW8WXPP/