Timeless

The Portrait of Lovers features an antique clock with a time-telling bird that persistently chirps, disrupting the regular chime with the raspy sound of mechanical gears. No longer confined to its silent box, the bird’s call stirs memories, revealing that time is driven by a poem. The poem reads: “I carry you heavily, basking in moonlight, drinking seawater, my heartbeat rises and falls like the tide. Before daylight, coins turn to medals, my chest shines, pierced by longing. Two thousand letters a year, icy feathers drift across the river, and the fortunate ones that reach the shore are all stones.”