Can you see the fourth hand on the clock?
Perhaps if you just squint hard enough
Does it reveal itself to you?
Silently ticking
Out of sight
Out of mind
Faster than you can ever imagine

Yet when you enter its grasp
And it pulls you into its realm
Everything around you suddenly slows
To
A
Grinding
Halt

Then just like a jolt of electricity
…
…
…
…
In down through your skull
…
…
…
…
Brain
…
…
…
…
HeArt
…
…
…
…
Spine
…
…
…
…
Down both of your legs
…
…
…
…
And out through your feet

The fourth hand vanishes from your view
Perspective normalises
Your frame of reference now standard
And it is like hand number four never even existed
Because it probably didn’t
All you’ve ever known is hands number three, two, and one
Hand number four, you say?

“Nope
Never heard of it
Just stick to your lane, would ya?
Like the rest of us
A collective
Hive
Mind”

But do you ever get that feeling?
Like a lighter that’s out of gas
As if you were once fueled up
Ready to take life on with full force
And then it happens
That empty feeling
Flameless, lifeless, and dead inside

So you search
Far and wide
For the mysterious fourth hand
That you once found
Saw, experienced, and witnessed
Because you know it exists
Even when they say it doesn’t