There lived a couple
who lived by a couple
of clocks beside their bed
As newly wed
as two could be,
things soon turned otherwise,
the problem being
splitting hairs between
promise and compromise.
Now being so civil
and servants to time,
naturally they were upset
when, hard as they tried
they couldn’t get
their two clocks synchronized.
No matter how
they altered their rhythm
just before they slept,
she’d go through periods
when she’d still be
two hours in the red.
They re-paired the clocks
and pillow-talked
but still couldn’t agree
whose clock was off
and, on that count,
they figured time was ripe
to call it quits
and leave, let leave,
a match unstruck, unwon.
The sting in this tale
of a vow that failed –
love is more than the feel
of being together
in the same room
but never at the same time
Felix Cheong
