The Right Time

Dad said

“When I need to know the time

and haven’t got my watch,

I just close my eyes and

picture the clock in the kitchen…”

It was a round clock

with a blue face

and white numbers

and white hands…

I can picture it too…

“I can usually ‘see’ the right time, then,” he said,

“in my mind’s eye…”

I tried it

and it did seem to work.

Sometimes it was twenty to four

or half past eight in the morning…

the clock was always five minutes fast

but I learned to take that into account.

But later Dad said

he didn’t really do that…

so now I don’t know whether

it's ever
the right time.