"Time Has Passed Away" by Ann Christine Tabaka

Time has passed away,

just like the dead dandelions

that drift upon a breeze.

It floats above our fallen dreams

like some specter from film noir.

You hold out your hand,

but all feeling is lost.

Numbness sets in.

We bury the mantel clock

as a symbol of all things forgotten.

Once we knew how to sing.

Our voices now crack like lightning.

A sharp, raspy requiem pours out.

Youth is undervalued,

we play with it so carelessly.

All that is left is a faded photograph,

of who we once were.

Burial over, we stand up,

brushing the dirt from our knees,

and say goodbye to time.

Ann Christine Tabaka was nominated for the 2017 Pushcart Prize in Poetry; nominated for the 2023 Dwarf Stars award of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association; winner of Spillwords Press 2020 Publication of the Year. Her bio is featured in the “Who’s Who of Emerging Writers 2020 and 2021,” published by Sweetycat Press. She is the author of 16 poetry books, and 1 short story book. She lives in Delaware, USA. She loves gardening and cooking. Chris lives with her husband and four cats. Her most recent credits are: The Phoenix; Eclipse Lit, Carolina Muse, Sand Hills Literary Magazine, Ephemeral Literary Review, The Elevation Review, The Closed Eye Open, North Dakota Quarterly, Tangled Locks Journal, Wild Roof Journal, The American Writers Review, Black Moon Magazine, Pacific Review, The Silver Blade, Pomona Valley Review, West Texas Literary Review.

*(a complete list of publications is available upon request)