BOOKS & WRITERS

Timaru Herald, Volume CVI, Issue 16310, 11 August 1917, Page 4

BOOKS & WRITERS

VERSE SHEFFIELD IX A TRENCH. . ■•What would I like to see?" No fear! Not London —no, nor "Windermere, Not Paris with its sky so clear — Give me a look at Sheffield. I have it in mv mental eye — l-s valleys, and its uplands liigh, In smoke-cloud flung against the sky— The smoke, that "blackens Sheffield. T:s five small rills that slowly steal Past; rolling-mill and grinding-wheel— Thoir very names can make me feel That I belong to Sheffield. I'O Loxlcy, Rivelin, Porter, Sheaf 1 Flow onward to the Don, your chief! And ripplo out your challenge brief—■•Men must bo free in Sheffield!") T know each tower and lofty dome That's long made Sheffield air its home, And where some others, lately come. Have reared their heads in Sheffield.

I mark each street and winding lane— Oh, yes, they'ro black! Oh, yes, they're

plain! But let me tread them once again, And Heaven will shine in Sheffield

And I can hoar, as luck may hap. The nickerpecke'rs* "tap, tap, tap," The grindstone's hiss, the tilt's "rap, ran," As if I was in Sheffield.

Aye, and the blunt old Sheffield speech As none else to my soul can reacJi— It knows not how to beg, beseech. The tonguo that's spoke in Sheffield.-

Could I hut see that smoke-bap thick, Meet swarfy-breeched Tom and Dick, And lads with scissors on a stick, I'd know I was in Sheffield.

But here we are!—"" What for?" You

say?— To teach the Boehe the time of day, And keep him far enough away From netting foot in Sheffied. —A Sheffield Lad, in the "Spectator." [*A local term for a hand file-cutter.]