Still Life (edit)

[Semicircle]

Time is 
 
a river that no dam can impede;
an ocean without shore or horizon;     Which is it then? Pick one or the other, I prefer the ocean one. A river is a cliche metaphor for how time flows forward, whereas, the ocean spans outward unceasingly. We don't know where it starts or ends.
the test against which we measure our worth,
or, simply, the between of now and not.
 
our friend.
 
The measure of our life’s tread;
telling us when our parenting begins,
when our eggs are done;
is said, to have no say on those who love.   "the panacea of those who love." 
It is the panacea.
 
the enemy.
 
That holds the future hostage,
denying the past.
Punishes those who grieve,
reminds us how long our love is gone,
plucks the flower before its due.   Again, this is a cliche metaphor for describing people who die before their time. 
 
This house we live in becomes our ruin.  "is our ruin" would work better, it shows the powerlessness one has over time because of a determined fate which contrasts with the previous statement that time spans outward without end like an ocean.
Caught in the riptide,
pulled from shore to horizon,
all clocks will stop.  Cliche
Is there no remedy? This stanza reads better without this ending question. 
 
We catch a glimpse of time’s heel
measured in the swing of the pendulum.
The lick quick repose at each stroke,
before it wakes to begin again.  
 
Kelvin knew the clue.
Temperature is the measure,
ironically, of molecular shiver 
that ceases at the absolute of zero.  
 
Without motion, 
there is only now and no not.
As at the pendulum’s repose,
or me, napping on the couch.

The second to last stanza isn't necessary because it is summed up in the last one to be "motion." 
Time is motion, we don't need to be taught about it.

Also is everything under "the enemy" supposed to show that time is the enemy, because it eventually becomes a lesson on how time is motion rather than showing its ill effects.

Cheers for the read,
Sc