Everything should be okay
butanxiety causes you to shudder at any random moment,
even when a smile rests onyour face.
When anxiety overwhelms you,
you can turn to afriend.

But friends are gone -
each consumed by their own search for anidentity,
for a future.

Deadlines to meet, nowhere toturn.
Heartbeat unrecognizable
until it drowns out your thoughts,
drawstears from your eyes.

You want time to stand still.
Please make theclock stop!
But the clock does not hear.
It has no emotion.

Timemaneuvers the clock,
like a puppet master.
Teenagers are slain by theclock.
Time wields the second hand like a sword,
leaving no one in itswake.

The only things withstanding the clock's rampage
are the senioryearbook, soon forgotten,
and photographs, stuffed in an old shoebox or leftundeveloped,
until nostalgia causes you to bring them out oncemore.

But you hardly recognize those dear friends in the photos -
noteven memories can outlast time.

Love tricked the clock.
The clockcannot overcome love.

No matter the distance in miles, in years, loveremains.
You once loved those people.
You always will.