Uncle from Alcatraz
Before the clock's tenth bell rung
Just a slight tick tock after one,
He embraced a child with love
And that child loved back. Until
The child was a child no more.
The clock's hand pulled away
The white veil and gifted
A black laced handkerchief
The tears fell upon his deaf ears
And all that was left were salty scars.
He could not find light in
The fire that shone in his eyes.
The shadow cast cornered him
Into a box of air. But
He chose to consume smoke.
Now he stands blurry-eyed
And thick of barren bone.
Salivating over plates of rich
Cheese. Fumbling then gorging
And licking fingers and knives.
The man before me loved
A child and that childe loved
Him. But that child is a child
No more. Growing, every tick tock
Knowing every tick tock
Is one less heartbeat for
The man a child use to love.