the old clock

it's never just one thing.

it's a list, a long list of grievances
that work
against
us.

we want others to be like us.
to be less like us.
we want them to love us as we are,
as we mirror
them.

we want convenience, no drama.
we want to be
closer,
more intimate, but on our
time table.

we are driven, we are ambivalent
all in the same day. pendulums
swinging
in the old clock
down the hall.

wanting one minute, and caring less
the next.

we fall in love for many reasons.
and fall out of love, so often
for the same ones.