The Humber Chainring
"Innocence can never perish."
--William Carlos Williams
If five burly men tried this
in life, the five stamped
in the steel
of the Humber bicycle
chainring, striding
merrily
round the maypole,
holding hands--
What scorn and ridicule
would be heaped
upon them!
But on the innocent bicycle,
the fine teeth
of the Wheel-of-Life
chainring
bite the chain
that grips the cog
that turns the wheels;
the innocence-never-perishing
bicycle wheels.
"Innocence can never perish."
--William Carlos Williams
If five burly men tried this
in life, the five stamped
in the steel
of the Humber bicycle
chainring, striding
merrily
round the maypole,
holding hands--
What scorn and ridicule
would be heaped
upon them!
But on the innocent bicycle,
the fine teeth
of the Wheel-of-Life
chainring
bite the chain
that grips the cog
that turns the wheels;
the innocence-never-perishing
bicycle wheels.
©Daniel Dahlquist