A ball rolls down a ramp
And my friend tells us
About Rube Goldberg machines
And I think about friendship
As a ball knocks over a toy bird
Which makes the beak push a button
That lets the sand fall
So time runs out with a smile
And my other friend says
There is something to this
And starts taking notes to use later
That trips the counterweight
To tip the scale and cause
The fire escape ladder to fall
And illustrate how too much work
Does not reward the effort
While we three friends
Talk at cross purposes
That each carries
Like a tattoo no one can see
And now a mechanical horse
Trots into a wall of fake bricks
Which causes the egg to break
And the future in the yolk
To spread across the plate
While what is left unsaid
Between friends
Turns the crank
That triggers the next step
Of the harebrained machine