Sitting at the cemetery watching a clock

It is 14:10

time crawls pondering loss
one tick, one second a tick
one breath out of my body
one friend I buried years ago
still don't know why he had to go
how he left, who he left behind ---
one fierce grandma laid to rest
in a cemetery, not a cemetery anymore
many friends who fought bravely
but god has other plans for them.

It is 14:11

time crawls pondering life
one tick, one second a tick
one breath out of my body
one day lived yet to be completed -
sun rises and sets, moon waxes and wanes
baby to child - teenage to adult
things done and things undone
seeking and unseeking - forgetting
a cycle to be completed
laid to rest (a life packaged in white).

It is 14:12

time crawls pondering death
one tick, one second a tick
one breath out of my body
one day when memories become me
I will be on roads, at the beach
in the home, bedroom and sitting room
on walls, in books and as ones and zeroes in hard disks
I will be with you and without you
living but not living, alive and yet dead
buried in a cemetery where a clock is in no haste/

Mohamed Faisal is a poet from the Maldives. He is a diplomat by profession and his poetry is inspired by the island environment of his home country and his poems are wandering thoughts of life and living. He has independently published a volume of poetry titled Empty Words in 2009.