Classic Poem

A really large wristwatch
With its crystal shattered
Complicatedly
In many places,
The Atlantic Ocean
Clicks in its compound cell,
Complaining about feeling
Too cooped up, suffering
Fearsome cramps in the main-
Spring, fragile balance
Wheel, and the detaining catch
Of the delicate escapement.
Cracks in the curved crystal
Crack among themselves, not like pistol
Cracks but like religions
Progressively subdividing
Until each child
Is a church unto herself,
Complaining bitterly
About her lot, her allotted slot,
The spot no household compound
Can lift, unless it be
Plain salt water in a beaker
At sea, tipping impromptu
First one way, then another,
Between peril and peril:
The timing mechanism
Of a complicated schism.
A really large wristwatch
With its crystal shattered
Complicatedly
In many places,
The Atlantic Ocean
Clicks in its compound cell,
Complaining about feeling
Too cooped up, suffering
Fearsome cramps in the main-
Spring, fragile balance
Wheel, and the detaining catch
Of the delicate escapement.
Cracks in the curved crystal
Crack among themselves, not like pistol
Cracks but like religions
Progressively subdividing
Until each child
Is a church unto herself,
Complaining bitterly
About her lot, her allotted slot,
The spot no household compound
Can lift, unless it be
Plain salt water in a beaker
At sea, tipping impromptu
First one way, then another,
Between peril and peril:
The timing mechanism
Of a complicated schism.