Astro,
I first I thought, wow, okay this is a riddle and I am not going to waste my time playing guessing games lol. But as I read on, I realized you were using a primary example to illustrate the passage of hours/days/months, etc.... You bring a good point, the example given does illustrate time, because we in the U.S. operate on a 12 hour clock, once 11:59 passes we go to midnight, then once 11:59 passes in the am, we then go to noon. To quote part of it your example "once was formerly first became second". As does the months operate in the same was of their rotation. Kind of relates to a biblical passage (not sure of exact scripture reference) , "Once was old will become new again". Let me thank you for your question, really thought provoking notion!