A tick in time (Revision) (Poetry Monthly)

Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock, tick:
never slow and never quick,
steadily the old hall clock
keeps on beating, tock, tick, tock.

Seconds always slipping past,
hours can seem to go so fast,
minutes sometimes drag, so slow,
tick, tock, tick in constant flow.

Birthdays come and birthdays go,
notches on the wall – kids grow,
grandads view a life of years,
clock ticked on through smiles and tears.

Pram, school, college – decades fly
like a river rolling by,
parenthood, and sickness, health,
latter years creep in by stealth.

Hear the mechanism click,
tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock, tick,
pendulum swings back and fore,
here’s a second, then one more.

Never slow and never quick,
‘til one day a clanking-click –
moving parts wear out, that clock
can no longer tick and tock.

Numbers lit and change on screen,
silently show time has been,
flicking at the ticking pace
viewed upon the old clock face.