Vagabond Nights!

Shrouded in autumn fog, the clock tower …
Why does it feel too late when it’s not?
We exhale empty words of compassion
into our unpredictable pandemic world.
Vagabond nights, vagabond nights!

Clawing, clasping, climbing
up the tower to slow the hands
as we grieve the loss of time.
If we fail to touch the face of time, we lose.
Vagabond nights, vagabond nights!

Competing with time, capturing time,
pockets of time, mere moments of time,
we vow to fight the loss of time
as long as it takes, forever and ever.
Vagabond nights, vagabond nights!

Our masked quest to outwit time
gives us the courage to demand
the clock hands release their grasp on us
so we can search for happily ever after.
Vagabond nights, vagabond nights!

Roberta Beach Jacobson is drawn to the magic of words–poetry, song lyrics, flash fiction, puzzles, and stand-up comedy. Her latest book is Demitasse Fiction: One-Minute Reads for Busy People (Alien Buddha Press, 2023).