Frozen Clock

I tick because I can.

I tick because I will.

I get out of bed in the morning

Because the alternative is nothing,

Nowhere.

I tick because when I look

Into the eyes of my grandmother

I can see her clock won't tick anymore,

And time has no pull on her,

No push.

There is no will, no way

For her to fight.

And so she sits, sits in her wheelchair 

As other people push her around, pull her from place to place

While she does nothing.

But I stand. 

And I go.

Because I can, because if I don't

Than what do I say to my grandmother

As we wheel the endless loop to the end of the hall and back?

Sorry grandma,

I just sat around today even though if I wanted to I could have touched a star?

No, I tick, I drive

Because without that I would be nothing,

I would have surrendered,

And there's no way I go quietly into that good night

And I will always rage against the dying of the light

Because when Grandmama looks at me with those frozen clock eyes

I know I need to keep driving, keep reaching.

I tick because I can.

I tick because I will.