Tick-tock 🕒

A little piece about the sounds we outgrow.

tick tock

There goes the clock in my new room.

I’ve always hated clocks,
their regular rhythms disturbing my nervous system.

tick tock

Childhood sleepovers ruined
by a single clock in the room.

tick tock

A tiny sound that grew monstrous,
louder as I approached slumber.

tick tock

Life feeling fleeting,
as if someone secretly cranked up the earth’s rotation,
an underhanded trick
depriving me of sleep.

Endless nights filled
with that obnoxious beat.

tick tock

But now something has changed.

Is it adaptation?
Or simply regulation?

I have no idea.

But I’ll tell you this:

That irritating rhythm
no longer feels the same.

I lie here,
body giving in, sinking into rest,
barely aware
of that tick-tock sound,
still there.