Late Afternoon

Late Afternoon

i am looking at the clock
waiting for the right time
it seems to have stopped
i know it hasn’t
so i sit and watch
starlight is not creeping
the sound of the clock
is ticking away inside my head
vibrating to the sound of distant prose
i don’t know about the temperature
so i test it with my toes
and i sit here and wait,
time slowly goes,
the more you run from your past
the faster it gets
i am trying to speed up time
but i do not know any magic tricks
i have always been the failed illusionist
trying to pass myself off as somebody else
always hiding from people,
but most of all, hiding from myself
i am looking at the clock
a minute since the last time i looked
you will be here soon,
in the late afternoon
just can’t stop, keep watching,
keep watching the clock



James Garratt – July 1995