Five Rebels

by john clare

We had five compasses all pointing the same direction
Each plainly telling us which way we should go
Yet to the man the opposite direction was chosen
When all were lost each blamed a compass defection.

We each had five rulers all marking the same inch
Each clearly showing us where to make the cut
But when none of the boards would squarely abut
We blamed the rulers varied increments.

We had five tuning forks in the key of C
It easily told us how to tune our instruments
But when the noise began and the booing commenced
It was the fault of the fork, we heard the chord of D.

We had five Bibles opened upon John 3:16,
We each clearly read whosover, shall not perish
But have life eternal
But when we died and woke in hell infernal
We blamed the Bible for not saying
what it clearly means.

Five rebels blaming all the wrong things
Compasses for going North, rulers for warped wood,
Forks for bad music, Bibles for not going with the good
Five rebels now screaming instead of singing.