Clocks n Clouds

Old wind-up clocks,
the tic and toc.
Once they were the metaphors,
the Wind-Up Universe,
the hand, the key.
Let it run until it slows and slows,
until we all ask, bemused,
“Why are the clouds
moving so slowly?
They should be home
for tea by now surely?”
And then they stop – altogether,
somewhere by Aberdeen ;
and Scotsmen look into the sky
and know there is a problem.
But metaphors they save the day,
and someone says,
“But hey, nobody still thinks
the universe is like a clock.”
And then things start to move
again, not far from Dundee.

*Seth Crook taught philosophy at various universities before moving to the Hebrides. He does not like cod philosophy in poetry. But he does like cod, poetry and philosophy.