Member Poem

Bobola Bibble

Bobola Bibble delighted to dabble in
Citing rude riddles and telling tall tattles
To all who would listen:
The postman, the plumber,
The clerks at mom's work
And the high school band's drummer,
The bus and cab drivers,
The town undertaker,
The mayor's own mother's own
Polish food maker.
They all allowed Bobola freely to say
All the nastiest news just to brighten their day.

And Bobola bubbled with glee just to see
How the trouble would double
When lies were set free.
Then, one day a thought came
To one hearer's head:
“If Bobola says all the mean things he says
About them, when I leave, what's he say about me?”

She wandered home thinking, then, most thoughtfully.

So, one by one folks there in Bobola's town
Refused to be used when he talked others down.
They shunned all the gossip his lips enjoyed leaking
'Til, finally, Bobola simply stopped speaking.

The listeners left him. They all went away.
So, he sat on the ground where he sits to this day
Leaning hard on a phrase that he etched in the wall:

“If you've nothing that's nice to say,
Don't speak at all.”