A City Without Clocks

By Anushka Devesh

In a city without clocks the day begins slow

The sky alone decides when light should glow

Children wake not by a ringing bell

But by the sound of dreams too heavy to dwell

Shops do not open when numbers command

They open when hunger returns to the land

Teachers do not mark the hours of class

They teach until questions quietly pass

Lovers do not part at a midnight chime

They leave when silence grows older than time

Streets do not sleep when the lanterns fade

They rest when footsteps no longer invade

No birthdays are counted no years to recall

Only the depth of a moment makes us tall

The river keeps flowing with no measured pace

It does not rush for a finish line race

Hospitals do not wait for hours to decide

They act with instinct the heart as their guide

And when the final breath leaves the chest

It is not called the end but a season of rest

For in a city where no clock is found

Life is not caged it moves unbound

Moments stretch wide like infinite streams

Measured not in minutes but in dreams.

And perhaps that is the secret we always sought,

That life was never meant to be counted

But only to be felt,

Like rain on the skin,

Like silence between two heartbeats,

Timeless, endless, whole.

By Anushka Devesh