No Bells of Eisenach

it is strange not to hear bells

as we wander around a town that has so many

goddamn churches with bell towers

on Sunday

passing by every single closed shop

for a god on a government mandated day

of rest

of course we discuss if we just didn’t notice

but usually we do notice the bells ringing

in these small medieval towns with ruins

of castles and thatched wood houses

and slate scaled buildings and even brick ones

but not here where the silence is stinking

up the still cobblestone streets

we make it home without any alert

of the hour or invaders or advertisements

for mass or celebrations of the bondage

of Jesus Christ being undone

we sit on the sofa and watch the clouds

moving over the Hotel Thuringer Hof building

across the plaza and we listen to Air

on the G string and when it’s over in faintly

surprisingly

there is a bell that tolls

soft as a clavichord

seven times

which makes me reconsider the striking

differences of the volume of announcements

in each town

and especially in Berlin at Mariannenplatz

where when it was time for the toll at eleven

on the Sabbath day

the jangle was impossible to sleep through

and perhaps this is because it is harder

to reach the souls

of urban wolves partying

than the rural sheep dallying in the fields

of Eisenach