Her eyes are fixed on the oversized,
galvanized wall clock,
its steady hand on a round dial,
mechanically measuring hours and minutes,
always moving, never stopping.
She struggles to suppress her anxiety.
Her husband has been in the operating theater
for many revolutions of the hand.
Then the clock strikes midnight,
doors swing open, operation successful.
She will have her loved one back.
With a full swing of her walking stick
she shatters the glass of the timepiece.
Relief courses through every waiting vein.
Stop the hand! Make time to stand still
so that the joy of their reunion
may seem timeless.