![_MG_1480[1]](http://uhsswordshield.smugmug.com/photos/i-rCcsKfp/0/L/i-rCcsKfp-L.jpg)
By RUAA LABANIEH
Staff Writer
Once upon a world,
we smiled with our eyes,
and laughed with our bellies,
before the hands of the clock were worn with age,
before the bells stopped chiming,
before the batteries ran out.
Time is the thief who stole
our mother’s everlasting compassion,
our father’s undying love.
The crook who took
her from him,
him from her.
The pickpocket
who left us all alone,
searching through the pouches
of our empty lives,
stumbling drunkenly
through dark days.
He watched us finally drown
right before the clock chimed
We held on to memory,
saved in the yellowing pages of,
water-damaged journals.
We had frantically scribbled our legacy
before blowing out candle after candle for years.
We gripped on to emotions,
with the music of star-crossed lovers
and true love’s kiss,
the ones we imitated in vain.
Time is the teacher
who suddenly pushed me off the edge of a cliff,
when I was too afraid to fly.
