Answer:
<em>I Rang the Bell
</em>
<em> by</em>
Edward Hirsch
<em>I rang the bell
</em>
<em>to the past
</em>
<em>and the owner let me in
</em>
<em>so I could climb
</em>
<em>seven steps
</em>
<em>and stand in the doorway
</em>
<em>of a narrowness
</em>
<em>that was once my room
</em>
<em>on the second floor
</em>
<em>of a split-level house
</em>
<em>on the corner
</em>
<em>of a suburban development
</em>
<em>in the village
</em>
<em>of my adolescence
</em>
<em>and time bent me back
</em>
<em>to that fitful night
</em>
<em>when I tried to scale
</em>
<em>the rusty stairs
</em>
<em>of a freight train rolling
</em>
<em>out of control in the yard
</em>
<em>so I could set the brakes
</em>
<em>and stop the runaway
</em>
<em>dead in his tracks
</em>
<em>but instead
</em>
<em>I pulled a bookcase
</em>
<em>down on my body
</em>
<em>and woke up
</em>
<em>startled
</em>
<em>to find my parents
</em>
<em>frightened in the hallway
</em>
<em>and my books—
</em>
<em>or was it my future?—
</em>
<em>scattered on the floor.</em>
<em />
The poem has a theme of regret.
The last three lines shows that while he failed to change the past and woke up in the present, he wasn't sure if his future was still certain.
Explanation:
From the poem, the boy went back to a period of sadness in his past to try and correct his mistakes.
This is evidenced here
<em>"and time bent me back
</em>
<em>to that fitful night
</em>
<em>when I tried to scale
</em>
<em>the rusty stairs
</em>
<em>of a freight train rolling
</em>
<em>out of control in the yard
</em>
<em>so I could set the brakes
</em>
<em>and stop the runaway
</em>
<em>dead in his tracks
"</em>
Unfortunately for him, he is unable to change the past and he is filled with regret.
