Time and Time Again (A.K. Ramanujan)

At first, the poem seems to be about clocks and timekeeping in a city. The opening lines describe clocktowers, gongs, and different timings, so the reader initially thinks the poet is simply talking about how clocks work in an old well-managed city.

The title's deeper meaning becomes clear when the poem shifts from the normal functioning of clocks to one clocktower being destroyed. That line shows that the poem is not just about time, but also about violence, breakdown, and the loss of order.

The differences in timekeeping come from the material and human factors behind the clocks: the different alloys, the maker's shaking hand, and the separate distances between the clocks set by a donor's whim. The implicit comparison is between the clocks and people or communities: just as the clocks do not all strike in perfect harmony, human beings in a city do not always live in harmony because of differences, accidents, and divisions.