In my mind
when I imagine them,
church bells always ring evenly,
one after the other
and spaced well apart
to pass the time.
Now here I am,
it is not even noon but ten past
and the bells are ringing
one over the other
like lapping tides
in lapsing time:
ding dedong dedong ding
dong ding degong.
Can it really be
that the timing of the bells
has changed so much?
In a small town
I had a structured upbringing,
and the bells always rang evenly
and on the hour
at the parish church,
like the chuffing of the train
that passes by the mill-dam
every day at noon.
Now I am here
and the trains pass all the time,
and there is chuffing and ringing
from all around.
I think the bells have loosened
in this place,
as even I may.