For Those Who Toll the Bells - a very silly poem

For Those Who Toll the Bells
by
Greg Pincus

Come hear the sad story of two poor, shy men
Who rang bells at a church in the shire.
The two men were twins though that fact was unknown
Since they lived out of sight in the spire.

The church bells were old, and their clappers were gone,
Yet the men loved their job heart and soul…
They would run towards the bells, always going face first:
The collisions would make the bells toll.

One day one poor brother was running full speed
When he slipped, and he tripped, then he fell!
He died on the ground, and though none knew his name,
All felt sure that his face rang a bell.

The very next hour, the other twin died,
Like his brother, his name known by none.
“But they sure are dead ringers,” the townspeople said...
So the brothers were buried as one.


The above was my fourth round entry in Ed DeCaria's March Poetry Madness in which I had to use the word "toll." At some point, I'll share the very peculiar first "toll" poem I wrote, but when I remembered the joke that the above poem is based on - a joke told to me by my father lonnnnnng ago - I wrote again, seeing if I could distill it into 16 lines (at that point, the maximum line limit in the Madness). I think I succeeded, and somehow, I moved on to the Final Four (where voting happens starting today until Monday evening - a line I will remove from this post after voting closes on the two "battles.").

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