The Ballad of Tomy A. Koin

And for the first time in his life he felt complete

A man at last

By circumstance

Had landed on his feet

He wore his smile

So wide and weary

You couldn’t help but join

Never a man

As plastic and chic

As Tomy A. Koin.

Friends would say

You wouldn’t see

His face without a grin

That he wore so straight

Like a fresh coat of paint

On an old copper tin

He really found his

As he found love

A binding oath for life

A stinger, and a winner

Named Kalee Faims

Who he soon made his wife.

All his life

People would scold

‘You really can’t be sad’

‘You’ll never grasp

how good it gets’

The life he knew he had

‘There’s war and famine,

A deep dark cavern,

Days without lights lit’

There’s simply no time

For his petty troubles

‘Now that’s real s**t.’

And life was simple

Like it says it should

Til’ the joker came around

He built the crowd

With his strange and round

And unusual, crooked crown

The town’s gravel

Pooled underneath

Bare foreign feet

His slender form

Pulled around

In a slick cotton sheet

Everyone stalled

So quickly to see

This incredible stranger

His welcoming mien

So humble, it seemed

Held no hint of danger

Then he lept with a laugh

Upon his epitaph

Where he began to preach

And in the crowd

Was Miss Kalee Faims

Held within his speech

‘There’s to be a festival

and everyone can come’

‘Don’t wait for night to fall

we’ll party under the sun’

‘Run to your loved

Just do make haste and hurry’

‘Now I’ve arrived, we’ll be fine

Please, don’t worry.’

And in a frantic rush

Left Mrs. Faims

To her side of town

To tell her husband

The joker’s jubilant aims

To share joy she had found!

And when she got home

She was greeted, a smile

‘Go on now

I’ll be along after a while.’

But Tomy wasn’t much

For celebrating and shouting

And had no thoughts of visiting

This peculiar outing

So instead he packed up his bags

and went to the beach

And strolled through the sand,

Just as far as his footsteps could reach.

Till he found the rock

Where the sirens sang,

The harsh truths

Their melancholy melodies rang,

With no one around

The plastic smile did fade

And the tide crept up

To the spot where Tomy A. Koin laid

The joker and his followers

How they ranted and raved

The sirens last notes

To that man never came

In the sand

In the ocean

In that merciless riptide

Sailed another grisly flotsam

To the Styx’s southern side

And people won’t talk

‘Bout Tomy Koin no more

Just another marooner

To that wanton shore

No one ever questioned

A ceaseless smile

Or the dark-rippled tides

‘Round that sunny isle.