Hanging on the wall in my study is a family heirloom.

An old wooden coo-ko clock, from Switzerland, I think.

Immigrated cross the Atlantic to America

by my Polish Grandmother, Rose.

I remember it used to hang in my Grandparents foyer

hooked to its long golden chains, weighted by a pair of iron pine cones,

pulling time along as they dropped toward the floor.

I remember, back then, Grandpa Max pulling the weights back-up

to touch the fillagree bird house clock,

so on every hour, five “coo-koos” would sing out

to announce the passing of our lives, like clock work.

Even New Years Eve clamor would include the coo-koos!

For I think I remember Grandpa Max

setting all the alarm clocks in their house

to jangle at midnight.

The coo-ko clock as well!

Right on time, in tune with all the other clocks.

My Fathers inheritance included that clock

when Grand Ma Rose passed…

It hung in our living room, given pride of place in our Bronx apartment.

Sadly, though, Father frequently forgot

to pull the chains or oil the gears

so the clock only sometimes tocked

but all the coo-kos stopped.

Now, it hangs in my study,

not ticking, not tocking, not singing.

The inner works:

the broken chains; the rusty, jammed gears,

are frozen in time.

And I am beginning to suspect

my memories of the glory days of my childhood

are mere echos of dreams from way back then,

that I wish might have been true.

Instead of a snoring grandfather,

sleeping off a vodka hang-over

in a drunken, drooling, slumber

in his frayed and fading recliner

while Grandma Rose,

sitting at her kitchen table,

tearfully recounted her sorrows

to my commiserating mother

as my father simmered in his anger at his father,

stole another shot of Stoli and stirred the soup.

Well…

so often, the shepherding of truth through time

and its traveling companion, pain

is not worth the cost of the effort.

For what we think we remember,

the lovely melody of time, passing,

is so much more beautiful

than what in truth, it was.

A weeping, weazing, scratchy coo-coo-bird-song

out of time…

“COO-COO…..

coo-co…

coo…

co.”