AS TIME GOES BY By Gail. R Bob and Hannah Browning Lived in a house in our town. For fifty years they rubbed along together In a life without haste, sitting in their clock-ticking kitchen Enjoying a half-century of silence. Until suddenly, like two watches That had been synchronized, They wound down at exactly The same time. Now, the eye of their weary house watches As hours, like thieves, slip past, Stealing time. A ghostly clock ticks And Bob and Hannah Browning Live forever in 1879. Copyright Gail. R. 2001 SALT PANS By Gail. R. Sunlight fell Across the salt pans, across her face. A pink glow hovered On the horizon. she'd always thought that salt was white. A spider of swear Crawled slowly down her spine, slithered away, swimming forever in salt, Like the whole town. She watched, Waited for the right moment To leave the pans, go Where life was green. Her hopes, frosted salt, Grew hard in the bask of years. She sank, drowning, In the pink glow of salt. Copyright Gail. R. 2001 CLASS ACT By Gail. R You have the floor,I'm ready For your sermon to begin, Wasting my time, my life. Another hour of this and I just might tell you that You make my head ache. I listen to your soul-search, Revelations about life,love The quest to be considered witty. Like a bee you drone, buzz, Constantly spreading nectar Punctuated with ignorant criticism. You're trying to find yourself And I laugh, because I know that if you ever do You'll be as bored by you As I am. Copyright Gail. R. 2001