Bells and Other Sorrows, I

I.
So it was on
some spring day longer
ago than I
care to remember
you walked into
that bicycle shed
and wrapped a bell
hung with ribbon
around my heart

I don't think
you even meant to do it
sometimes the best gifts are
accidental

For years now
it's hung there
so long now I have
forgotten
how it felt to not have it
wrapped around me
it's heavy, you know
but I would miss its weight
were it to fall off

How it clangles and jangles
and rings at the most
inappropriate times!

I tried to stop it
once, vexed
I stuffed it full of
cotton wool
the kind angels sit on in heaven

I have since given up