Pavlov Unwritten, By Brian37 (AKA Brian James Rational Poet on FB/META and @Brianrrs37 on Twitter)

An odd title you’d query surely
And I have to respond quite sadly
This is print now is a result of
The original poem getting lost

Oh what the cost, the madding frustration
Of this confounded contraption locking up
On me, when I hit the last stanza, finally
I thought I had copied and pasted it, properly

When I refreshed the page, when I went to press
Submit, it all went away, to keep oblivion company
Instead it gave me, the prior poem I had written
My tongue I had bitten, oh but I was certain

I had saved it. It was to be, “Pavlov Almighty”
A metaphor, an allegory, that the guy from the pulpit
Rang, ding dong, they all followed along
And filled the pews, and paid 10% dues

The labs hear the bell, come running to hell
They have puppies, Pavlov’s church bowl guppies
Feeds them fiction, puts them on barracks restriction
The horse doesn’t know it’s not tied to the hitching post

Ring that bell, Pavlov’s empty dish
Sell that fictional eternity, vacuous wish
Promises that can never be kept
Still in that fervor all get swept

The poem a ghost, and this is it’s shell
The prior version went on an excursion
Shouts of frustration, and words I cant tell
Pounding the table my fists are not well
(end)

This is not the first time I lost a poem after writing it.
What you were just reading was a second poem in response to losing the original “Pavlov Almighty”.