Lookin’ out across the water when ’tis dark as dark can be,
When there’s not a whiff o’ wind to break the stillness o’ the sea,
When the air is clear an’ frosty— ’tis the cheerfulest o’ sights
To behold the scores an’ hundreds o’ the twinklin’ Gourock lights!
‘Tis a long, long string o’ di’monds, needin’ nought to make ’em shine,
But ye never seen a duchess wearin’ di’monds half so fine !
‘Tis as if the ch’icest stars o’ heav’n had dropped to deck the shore—
Oh, I’ve counted ’em, an’ counted ’em, an’ still was plenty more.
If I was a simple stranger, sure I’d say the sparklin’ string
Was some rare illumination for the crownin’ o’ a king.
But whene’er I spies the Gourock lights a-twinklin’ fast an’ free,
Why, I never thinks but what the lights is twinklin’ there for me!
I meets a dismal chap one night. He groans an’ says, “Alas !
Tis sad to think them twinklin’ lights is made o’ stinkin’ gas.”
Says I— “Ye topsy-turvy soul, why don’t ye sing o’ nights
Because the stinkin’ gas does make them twinklin’ Gourock lights?”
(John Joy Bell)
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Based on Topics: Night Poems, Light Poems, Soul Poems, Kings & Queens Poems, Water PoemsBased on Keywords: wearin, shore-, twinklin, topsy-turvy, needin, monds, sparklin, stinkin, crownin, cheerfulest, gourock
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