When I was young, I’d disassemble clocks
So I could understand what made them go.
With tools in hand, and pieces in a box,
I’d wonder, and I’d look, and then I’d know.
But lacking tools to take myself apart,
I understand myself through what I’m told,
And one friend told me I am young at heart—
Another said my soul is very old.
If I can trust them both (I think I can),
Then I have been—repaired, or else restored.
Is it sometimes the lot of broken man
To go back to the workshop of the Lord?
__Some say that Great Clockmaker stands aloof,
__But I know otherwise—and I’m the proof!
Benjamin Daniel Lukey was born in 1986. He has lived all over the Eastern United States and currently resides near Charlotte, North Carolina. He teaches high school English classes whenever he is not fishing or writing poetry. His work has previously appeared in Edify Fiction and The Mystic Blue Review.
Dear Benjamin,
Thank you for this absolutely beautiful poem. I’ll set my watch by this!
Very beautiful poem– lyrical, accessible, rhythmically strong, original in concept, and with a natural “flow” that invites recitation. Thanks for sharing it.
A wonderfully wise poem.Many thanks
Benjamin, I appreciate this poem and its sentiment. You capture the natural flow of a sonnet – as well as language that compliments the style – well! Makes me want to write more sonnets!
There’s a lot I’d like to say about the above piece, Ben; but I feel content to just refer to Mr Rizley’s informed appraisal above . . which conveys all the praiseworthy aspects of the poem (especially the “original in concept” bit). He took the words right out of my mouth!
Anyone can attempt to use metaphors; but the way in which you’ve weaved the ‘clock’ into a ‘human condition’ is high-class . . and I feel it’s the ultimate in the poetic use of metaphors.
What a wonderful poem, Benjamin!
This is exquisite and wonderfully universal, plainspoken but impeccably crafted. It’s like you uncovered one of the primary poems of our language, this late in time.