Christopher Philip Hebert

Blog

2025-01-03

The beach house has a clock.
On the wall.
The clock on the wall ticks and tocks.
Whenever you look at the clock,
it appears to be 6:40, or 6:48, or 6:53.

If you sit near the clock long enough,
and if you pay increasing attention as it nears 7:00,
you'll witness a beautiful thing:
The minute hand falls, swinging down through 7:10,
7:20,
7:30,
up to 7:36,
then backwards to 7:28,
then nestling around 7:30.
In the chaos of the minute hand's oscillations,
the hour hand too falls back down to 6.

The clock on the wall always appears to be 6:40,
or 6:48.