Detained in chains designed by hours,
I barely budged. It shackles powers,
our captor, Time, which bound me there
in restlessness, impatience, fear,
anxieties of being late
and watching clocks count down my fate,
electric shocks of minutes gone,
as drum rolls note the denouement.

Blindfolded, weary, famished, beat,
I puzzled, muzzled, near defeat
and watched the marching second hand.
I stilled my mind to understand
what tells the future from the past
or makes the present fast or last
or gives the year authority.
The answer? Me. And now I'm free.