The Audlem WI Clock

editor's note:- I have been trying and failing to pen a suitable poem about this clock! After several iterations on AI, this is what it has achieved – there will be factual errors (eg  WI meetings were held at the Methodist Church before disbanding) and I would take on such info and update the poem – had I persevered! But essentially it is about that clock which seems to have been out of action and under repair for some years now!

The Audlem WI Clock

In Audlem Public Hall it rests,
Stuck still at twenty to nine,
Hour and minute held their breath
The day we drew the line

2024, the final tea,
The last vote cast for jam.
We stacked the chairs, returned the keys,
And left it as it am.

Yet watch: the second hand still goes,
A quiet, stubborn spin.
It counts for meetings no one holds,
For voices that won t come in.

Mavis wound it one last March,
Out of habit, out of grace.
Now hour and minute keep their watch
Over an empty place.

So let it stay twenty to nine
The time we said goodbye.
The WI s done in Audlem Hall,
But seconds still go by.