Time (a two voice poem)

(the girl)
They say time flies when you’re having fun,
but what no one ever warned me of, not a single one,
Is that when you are stressed, even faster it runs.

(the clock)
You foolish girl
What you claim is untrue.
Listen to the rhythmic tick tock of my hand
and see that your mind’s playing tricks on you.

(the girl)
I cannot hear my own thoughts
over the tick tock of your hands
I’m pushed down under the weight of your sound,
So strong that I cannot stand.

(the clock)
I do not push you down-
you push down yourself.

(the girl)
Will you just let go of me?
Your hands grip my chest so tight
That I can’t breathe by myself.

(the girl)
How can I live when I am angry
at the conditions of my very existence?
Come and stare through my side of the glass
and you will understand.

(the clock)
Come and stare through my side of the glass
and you will understand my persistence,
for if you stop fighting the inevitable 
you’ll breathe even under in the grip of my hand

(the girl)
Time, I am stranded in your stormy ocean
Your currents pushing me further from the shore.
Time, your waves come - unrelenting - in seconds
and pull me under evermore.

(the clock)
I cannot stop my waves.
Time will move on, and you must learn to
move on with it.

(the girl)
I cannot move on as time does so.
I can’t keep up-
I just want to quit.

(the girl)
I stare up at the clock
as it’s stupid hands go tick tock tick, 
and I’m so lost, so helpless and angry
that I hit it with my balled fist.

(the clock)
My glass is smashed, my face is gone,
though faceless, still, I remain
Because even smashed and broken,
Time goes tick tock again and again...

(both)
...and I must move to it’s rhythm.