Shocker

there once was a man from Wichita

who repaired the lines, scaled them all

 

on call from the first to the seventh day

hell and high water and come whatever may

 

every time, the black cables vocalized

the power within could kill and paralyze

 

his knowledge of the grid unparalleled

one long stretch could not stand winter hell

 

he was a master and could fix the break

no matter how hard or how long it would take

 

along the southern border, route one six six

it should have been easy, the simplest fix

 

between Baxter Springs and South Haven

came Corvus corax, the common raven

 

the shock came, he fell into future winter wheat

a circuit the universe had to complete

 

he would never see his alma mater go

to the Final Four, the great athletic show

 

not since before Campbell recorded the hit

now he was living or rather enacting it

 

a strange tribute to Mays and Metheny

somewhat south of strange, somewhat north of zany

 

and now the poltergeist appears along that line

that parallels the south road, the scary find

 

the story closes, some kind of Wichita Shocker

of how a man becomes a ghostly stalker

 

looking for the break that must be fixed

too bad the simple life was sorely nixed

 

the stories are weaved into a tangled Webb

no wonder the blatant things are left unsaid

 

two in the pink, one in the stink, such is life

left behind, a full kitchen sink and no wife

 

no closure, just a loss with the horn sounding

the silence left is defeaning and confounding

 

and so the lineman goes forth on endless loop

minus the living side of the daily commute

 

to and from wherever to Wichita

and now the legend continues on and on