No Time of Departure

You try to capture
The time in photos
Like a newspaper’s
Pictures of the week.

It works precisely
And doesn’t really
Work at all to fix
Time—each pic’s cross-linked

By so much captured
World information
You could rattle off
Their times just squinting,

But haven’t you missed
The hamster-wheel like
Circularity
Of this precision?

Anything rhythmic
Works as a clock, if
You count its changes
As identical

To one another—
Track melatonin,
Tides, humidity,
Rainfall, and so forth.

What leaves and comes back
Only to leave and
Come back. Time’s just that,
Humans counting that.

You want to conclude,
But you’re not in time
If you don’t come back,
And you won’t come back.