The City Clocks

By Padraic Colum

THE City clocks point out the hours

They look like moons on their darkened towers-

And I who was shown my destination

Thrice, but have no sense of location,

Am back again at one or the other

Looming clocks that have changed the figure.

Moments a thousand have hurried over,

And the sought place is as far as ever.

The City clocks point out the hours

They look like moons on their darkened towers;

That Time and Place are a tangled skein

Their mingled strokes say over again.