bells

The church bells echo through the neighborhood
as they always have. I can not think of a time
where their sound did not punctuate the day.

As a child I always wanted to take the stairs up
towards the bell tower. Those steps were gated
off so I have yet to see them. I thought of what

it would be like to stand by them in their silence,
how massive it would be to stand in their presence
as they were struck and began to fill the world.