The Lad Ted

Once there was a lad named Ted.
No one knew, but he was dead.
His corpse would rot and rot each day.
Townsmen only saw him from far away.
Each day his stench got worse and worse
And neighbors started to disburse.
No one knew that it was Ted,
For no one knew poor Ted was dead.
Friends waved as they saw him every day,
For he always sat there anyway-
At the corner of his house, in his wooden chair,
And for hours on end, he just sat there;
Sat there under his window sill,
Sat and sat, always still.

Then one day a neighbor saw
That birds were pecking at Ted’s jaw.
So he came running to the place
As the fowls attacked poor Ted’s face.
He grabbed the hose and sprayed at Ted,
And washed the skin right off his head.
And when he saw that Ted was fodder,
He said, “What on Earth is in this water?!”
1995