Time Celia Xiong

A.M. P.M. Morning ‘til night. “Tick tick,” the clock says softly. “It’s time for bed!” the night yells. “Time to wake up!” yells the morning. Yesterday was bad. Tomorrow will be worse. But today? It’ll be unknown. It’s summer. It’s fall. It’s spring. It’s winter. “What time is it?” “Do you know the time?” “Can you tell the clock for me?” “Do you have a watch?” Time is so important, but nobody knows what it is. Is it 11:00? Is it 11:35? Why is it that when it says A.M. it’s dark. A.M. is meant for daytime, right? Who said it was supposed to be daytime? Who said the numbers on the clock were right? Time is confusing. Time is ticking. Sometimes, 5 minutes can feel like 5 hours. Sometimes an hour can feel like 5 minutes. The long hand is the minute hand. The short one is the hour hand. Look at that clock. Look at the red hand.

It looks like a man who's running late for work. Time runs like a dog trying to catch its tail. Who says the hands on those clocks were right? Who says that the numbers were supposed to be 1-12? Time is so important to everybody. “I’ll do it tomorrow.” “It was due yesterday!” they would say. If I could choose a superpower, it would be controlling time. I could go to the future. Maybe see my fate. Maybe see everybody’s fate. I could go to the past. I can meet my parents. But I would probably be disappointed fast. I can stop time. It would make homework easier. Work takes time. Everything takes time. Time is confusing. Time is ticking. A year seems short. But it takes a while at the same time. Time is confusing. Time is ticking.

Celia Xiong, Grade 5 Bailey Elementary, Woodbury Teaching Artist: Frank Sentwali