Photo Crissy Jarvis

ABACUS

Fingers fly

Back and forth

Beads clack

Build up in rows

Then melt away

Then it stops

That moment

Is the moment

The answer

Is plucked

And given

The beads of life

Clack and build

Add subtract multiply

To make the answer

That is each heartbeat

For our time here

Each answer different

Than the last

Infinite beads infinite time

Infinite answers

Yet we expect

The same outcome

We plan that way

Are disappointed

When it is not

Hurt chagrined

Perplexed even

That something

So simple as today

Could be more complicated

Than yesterday

Is there no rest

For the weary

Why should I feel

So in control

When I’m not

Who am I

The prisoner hears

The clacking

And wonders

If this is

His day