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[experiments with rhyme!]
THE BALLAD OF THE BIKE
Robert rode his bike to church.
Joanna took the car.
Robert tumbled to the road
and lay there on the tar.
Joanna came upon the scene:
the body by the bike.
She made a fast u-turn;
she’d never seen the like.
Police were there already,
a truck parked on the side.
A couple stood there gawking;
Joanna thought he’d died.
The ambulance arrived,
the E.M.R.s got out,
and checked all vital signs:
he’d live, without a doubt.
Passers-by desired to help.
The cop said ‘broken bones’.
‘Concussion’ said the E.M.Rs
while talking on cell-phones.
Joanna drove to E.R.,
still shaking in her shoes;
a good friend sat beside her;
they waited for the news.
Robert was a
crunched up mess
with broken ribs
and hip.
He lay upon his
narrow bed
with a double
IV-drip.
Joanna came again
that night
with the
insurance claim,
and sadness for
a cancelled trip,
they thought it
was a shame:
for Italy
was planned -
in just twelve
days ahead -
now they had to
think again
with Robert
stuck in bed.
He stayed there
for a week
but got to
church at last,
rolling in his
wheelchair,
and traveling
none too fast.
Now he’s back
upon his bike
he rides more carefully.
The vacation was
re-planned
and they went to
Italy.
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