4 o clock in berlin
2 o clock in sydney
7 o clock in dubai
12 o clock in tokyo
10 o clock in new york
who cares
no such thing as early or late
yesterday i said tomorrow is her birthday thinking of another time zone
now sitting here facing all these clocks telling me the time in all parts of the world
i tell myself yesterday was her birthday
who cares
i'm not supposed to remember
and love has no yesterday or tomorrow
it's just there and not there
like what someone said to me an hour ago
i asked him are you living in indonesia for good
he said there's no such thing as for good
oh my i was stumped for a change
no rebuttal there
he said my partner is there so that's one reason i am there i had been awhile in the netherlands
so it was time to be back home how are you
i said i am sick
sick of all this talk about nationalism and sultanate was a state the land was our land all that romance
he said true but it's necessary so where are you now
i said i was in jolo but now i'm back in davao
for good for bad what does it matter
last night i did my laundry
lost a watch
or someone took it from the bathroom ledge while i hanged my clothes down in the yard
i don't hurt
or pretend not to
what is a watch anyway
what is time anyway
though all night i was thinking of your poem about time
your poems always about time
and i am not there anyway
time not always for me
i'm not your love anyway
so i said why bother
what good would it do you if i greet you or not
you don't like me anyway
so now i sit here at a hotel lobby
and thinking of your birthday
and i cannot even call
i don't know how to call anyway
and you don't like me calling anyway
you don't like me anyway
so i sit here at the lobby
and look back up at the watches watching me
and i don't know what they are saying
and today in az it's still her 55th birthday i say
but here at the lobby i am feeling blue and grey
and i don't know what time is telling me
