There’s a lot you can do with a stopwatch.
Whip one out--
That’s all it takes to make a child

hold her breath (15 seconds),

run to the video store and back (2 minutes),

answer 40 multiplication questions (5 minutes, or less).
Things no one would normally do
become games,

and all it takes
is a stopwatch.

There wasn’t a stopwatch around

during my first kiss, or

when I tried to study for the test that ruined my GPA

while I waited for the sunrise that never came,


because clouds gathered.

Neither was there a stopwatch timing how long it took to

receive an honest compliment,

glimpse a sliding pink river dolphin,

skate over an eerily smooth lake at midnight.

So maybe stopwatches only work on children
who don’t understand that what matters
isn’t how long it takes for something to happen
but for how long afterward it haunts you,

Which is impossible to measure because

when you think the pain has faded


it flares up again days, months later,


and

when you think the joy has worn off


you’d be surprised at the moments


when the image of


a smiling face and the sound of


the words “thank you for being so happy”

will wrap themselves around your heart once more.