the mainspring
has lost tension
the small crown
a brass cap with
worn knurled edges
spinning freely
the mechanism that
once wound this heart
a severed connection
the seconds slip
as sluggish gears
tick a last tock
in the stagnation
of sleepless nights
the cataract of
milky white indifference
swirls behind the
jeweler’s loupe held
clenched in place
as clumsy hands
manuever tweezers
through a frantic search
for the broken linkage
in self administered
cardial infarctions
brass shavings drift
lazily among platelets
the tainted rivers
uncleansed by kidneys
as the dialysis falters
a polluted solution
in sanguinated failure
the tenacious tension
remains unapplied
to the filamentous
mainspring resting
in useless repose
as sinuous despair
coils amid tiny gears
rounded by entropy
as seconds slip into
the long demise of
dreamshatter malaise
a wheezing halt as the
pocket watch shudders
heartspasms locked
in mechanical catastrophes
a tick without hope
in laissez faire dementia