Countdown: Minutes to Midnight is a poem written by Jerrel Troi Flores and shared with The Ugly Writers under the theme Creating Sparks for the month of December
Tick Tock Tick Tock
The clock hands run, the strings are strummed
Each click, each beat, another moment pass
Tick Tock Tick Tock
Another word blurs by, meaningless and intangible
Lost to the ink and paper, drowned in the waves
Letters upon letters upon letters
Your names and faces buried beneath
I scramble to dig you out, to bring you up
Another race to lose
Places and plans, all charted out
Promises and oaths, lies all sputtered out
The house on the hill, our promised land
Now forgotten, overrun, left behind.
Tick Tock Tick Tock
Another request, another day shaved away
Trapped in three white walls; they are as thin as cardboard
Tick Tock Tick Tock
A new cage, a new life, a new shackle; a choice made willingly
We built this life out from our dreams; with our dream-corpse lay the foundations
Tick Tock Tick Tock
Out there, the foghorn calls
Minutes to Midnight, a race to lose
Tick Tock Tick Tock
Another beat, another second gone
Another face, another place, another regret
