11:11, What would you wish for?

11:11 I’d never been so driven.
11:11 Would you please just listen.

To the wishes and thrills,
Through the winter night chills,
Towards the hopes and the dreams,
Where happiness beams. 

To the list I have made,
Of the things I would trade,
For the life I would treasure,
And the things I do desire.

Yet eleven you are,
A minute you are,
A minute you were.
As seconds tick, moments pass,
And 11:11 you were. 

On the surface, this poem describes the clock on my iPod Touch. The inspiration was sparked by 11:11 in the night. As a common practice, many people wait for this minute to arrive to make a wish. This poem is a personal response to the general notion of that auspicious minute in the day. Essentially, the poem is a melancholy and cynical view upon the hope fabricated behind this minute. 

The main formal feature of this poem is apostrophe. As the time strikes 11:11 PM, I begin to address the time as a person who could supposedly listen to my wishes and hopes. In the second and third stanza, the poem illustrates the desire to gain certain objects and emotions. In the last stanza, the poem expresses the hopelessness as I realize how powerless time can be. In fact, time moves on much like everything else without granting any wish. In addition, time is referred to as a person to draw a parallel to the idea of loneliness. “Yet eleven you are, / A minute you are, / A minute you were.” In these lines, the poem mourns for the reminiscent memories.  As memories have become a past tense, one can only recall the wonderful experiences but cannot relive them again. In other words, time moves on and waits for no one, and one can only watch it pass by no matter what is done.