Molasses

Time used to pass like molasses

Endless, endless, endless

Seconds felt like minutes,

Minutes like hours,

And hours like day

Drip, drip, drip

The seconds splash into a puddle

Growing and growing

Becoming a pond

A lake

A rushing river

A sea

Waiting was endless

My time was Infinite

Trusting the stopwatch

That it would last forever

But now the watch has died

The alarm now set

Counting my steps

My breaths

Each beat of my own heart

And time has sped up

And time has broken the walls

And it's flooding

Goodness, it's flooding

Houses taking in more water than

a sinking ship

Years going down

Into the depths of all that will be

But it won't be

It is being

It's already been

And it's going too fast

Too fast

Speed limit 15

Speed limit breached

"Ma'am, your under arrest for speeding

In a school zone"

I didn't choose to break the watch

Shatter the hourglass

I didn't choose for my life to be decided at 14

I didn't choose for time to speed up

My life to speed up

Officer, I didn't mean to speed

Tell me, though

In prison, would it slow down?

Once I could do nothing but wait

Would the waiting become endless?

Drip drip drip

The seconds splash

Not into a puddle,

Not a lake

Just into the concrete cell floor

Wearing away at the cold cement

A hole opening up

But it refuses to swallow the years

It swallows me instead

Into time’s belly

Into a wet cave of seconds

And minutes

All the years adding up

Teeth made of centuries

Sharp and pointed

And eventually it’s over

And eventually, I open my eyes

Drip drip drip

The seconds

Falling

Drip drip drip

The puddle echos

Each drop

Drip drip  . . . .