tick-tock-the tyranny of time

       Tick-tock, tick-tock, time answers to no one, but everyone
       answers to time.  We all march, lock step to the tick of the
       seconds, minutes, hours.

       Tick-tock, up at 7:00am, toilet, dress, breakfast, to be
       completed by 8:00am in order to arrive at work by 9:00am.
       Start at 9:00am, half hour lunch at 12:00pm, 15 minute break
       at 1:30pm, finish at 5:00pm.   The tyranny of time does not
       stop there.  We continue our march to the tick of time, until
       finely, conclude at 11:00pm in bed to sleep for 8 hours; than
       ring, ring, start the monotonous sequence, over and over again.

      Tick-tock, no time to 'smell the roses,' 'cease the day,' smile at
      some one, tick-tock, no time to listen to the leaves as the wind
      whistles through them, hear the children at play screaming and
      laughing, to breath in the Autumn air feeling its freshness, for
      watching the clouds slip through the sky; for this, for every
      thing, we don't have time; "little we see in nature that is ours;
      a sorted boon."

     You there! Open your window high and yell defiantly, "Hell no!
      No more a slave to the tick-tock of time, I am unhooking my chains,
      and walking free!"  Than set your will and imagination to the task
      of tick-tock never more.



              
                                I keep the beat


                 I keep the beat: BAM-BAM, BAM-BAM, BAM-BAM
                   It is the beat of my being.
                There was a time I knew nothing of its rhythm.  Than I
                   moved at a swift pace, breaking down occasionally. 
                   It was those breaks, gaps, silences I heard the beat of
                   my being.
                Now I sit at my drum, setting its rhythm to the beat
                   my heart: BAM-BAM, BAM-BAM, BAM-BAM.
                My heart beat is set to the heart beat of the Cosmos.
                   In this sacred harmony I dance to the cosmic pulse
                   and live by the heart beat: BAM-BAM, BAM-BAM, BAM-BAM.
               Through the transformations of my life,
                    I keep the beat.
               Through the betrayals, jealousies, hatreds,
                    I keep the beat.
               Through the lies, manipulations, flatteries,
                    I keep the beat.
               Through the political hypocrisy, economic insanity,
                    religious bigotry,
                    I keep the beat.
               And when my rhythm sometimes falters and fades,
                    through doubt, fear, anger,
                    I keep the beat, and its percussion grows stronger
                    and louder: BAM-BAM, BAM-BAM, BAM-BAM.
               I keep the beat because I know it to be True.  It fills me
                    with peace and joy: BAM-BAM, BAM-BAM, BAM-BAM.