The Watch
'The Watch' is a short story based on ‘Heartbreak' from my manuscript ‘Life and Death on Kilimanjaro'.Below are some excerpts.
The Watch
“Did you ever see this?” Mom handed me a small bible with a black leather cover, its onionskin pages gilded with gold. “It was your father’s.”
I moved away from the other mourners in the room and tried flipping the bible’s thin pages. They clumped together and a yellowed newspaper clipping fell to the floor. It was a poem by Robert H. Smith, “The Clock of Life”.
I read the words, stopping now and then to fight the growing lump in my throat. Then I replaced the fragile piece of paper next to the handwritten inscription and closed the book.
Live each day to the fullest. The poem’s message was ironic. Fateful.
I promised Dad I’d never forget his parting advice.
The Watch
Breathless, my teammate focused his camera lens on me as I stood next to the flag-draped signpost. My hand shook as I tried to hold the watch still for the picture.
The puffy white clouds below reminded me I was on top of the world. It seemed like I was standing in heaven.
I grasped the watch tighter and tried a deep breath. I felt like I was suffocating. I looked away from the camera at the vast blueness that surrounded me.
I felt big, then small. Young, then old. Alive, then numb. I was exhausted, confused and oxygen-deprived. I bit my lip in a false smile and he took the picture.
The Clock Of Life
The clock of life is wound but once,
And no man has the power,
To tell just when the hands
will stop,
At late or early hour.
To lose one’s wealth is sad indeed,
To lose one health is more;
To lose one’s soul is such a loss,
As no man can restore.
The present only is our own,
Live, love, toil with a will,
Place no faith in tomorrow—for
The clock may then be still.
Robert H. Smith