Make way, make way, good people, mind the sky! Something terrible happened and now we all must ask why! Old Marta heard a thunderous crash behind the bakery door, A grand piano met the paving stones and splintered through the floor. No one knew whose instrument it was! No one knew the tune! But by supper every neighbor swore a piano might fall soon. Beware the plague of falling pianos! Check every roof and attic beam! One grand catastrophe on Tuesday turns a maybe into certainty. Beware the plague of falling pianos! Tell the children, bar the lane! If one rare thing has happened once, it surely will again! The mayor nailed a warning to the courthouse clock at noon: “Ban all keys and heavy wood, and confiscate the moon!” The baker wore a helmet and Old Marta hugged the walls, While three men searched the clouds above for where the next might fall. Beware the plague of falling pianos! Check every roof and attic beam! One grand catastrophe on Tuesday turns a maybe into certainty. Beware the plague of falling pianos! Tell the children, bar the lane! If one rare thing has happened once, it surely will again! A scholar brought his ledgers out and calmly read the sum: “Across the county, year by year, such tumbles scarcely come.” The crowd replied, “Your figures lack The proper sort of dread! We saw the keys! We heard the boom! We're lucky no one's dead!” A fox sells maps of danger. A crow rings bells of doom. And every tale grows taller when repeated in the room. We trust the thing we picture the thing that leaves a scar, Then mistake a vivid memory for how dangerous things are. By Friday, every harmless box was treated as a threat, The school replaced its music class with “Duck and Cover” etiquette. Then Marta found the culprit: A stagehand, drunk and pale, Who’d hoisted up the theater’s prop with one frayed, foolish nail. Beware the plague of falling pianos or perhaps inspect the facts instead. One loud disaster fills the heavens when it’s ringing in your head. Beware the plague of falling pianos! Keep your wits and count every case! A story may be memorable without seeing it every place! So if a piano falls tomorrow, do not declare the sky unwell— Take a breath consult the ledger, see if your reason also fell.
