The bell

The bell

We tried to cast the perfect bell
For our tower of love
Like some Russian czar might do.

It was to be the biggest bell ever cast
Without a flaw
You would hear it ring from ten miles away.

Wonder of wonders!
We did cast it
We filed away the slag with coarse instruments
Then burnished it with sandpaper
And finally polished it with soft cloth
Till the bronze flowers and angels reflected the sun.

We dragged it to the tower
Over weeks, with painful logs
Over which it rolled.

We hoisted it to the top of the tower
With many an ingenious instrument
And mystic exhortation
To multiply the effort of puny human bodies.

Alas, the tower was but wood
It could not bear the weight; it gave way
With a thud the bell fell
To the wet mud.

It would not crack, it could not crack,
But it would not ring on the earth
It was built to hang in sacred skies
It still lies somewhere, intact.