KEEPING TIME

They are going cashless

down the soup kitchen

they have a card

that counts the number of

sandwiches and cups of soup

you procure of an evening.

So you don’t overeat

what you can’t see under the stray

lighting of the car park

Hi-vis gear is the fashion

lest one gets

run over or

picked-up with

the recycling

asleep amongst the cans

of special brew and valium strips

It doesn’t need to be here

where I sealed off

the unit timed oscillating

valves that are running

the huge metronome

that keeps timing for the aged

who need to know it is to

the ends of time

that they are walking.

I will be here where they walk

but not when they ask for it

God is the number I call

and he is not listening to me here

where I sit alone.

COPYRIGHT BRUCE E SAUNDERS 2019