AN ODE TO A CLOCK

Waikato Times, Volume 126, Issue 21051, 1 March 1940, Page 5

AN ODE TO A CLOCK

| One and all the good folk say, “ You must be lonely through the I day; ' How pass the time, yourself amuse, Without the radio’s song and news?” I smile and think they’d have a shock Were I to say “ I have my clock.” He never fails what’ere the clime And does not boast an hourly chime. He is so square, and looks so squat. With his eyeglass bevelled instead of flat, But his honest voice I love to hear Say tick-tock, tick-tock, brisk and clear. I His gait is more a crawl than walk, And keeps in pace with his steady talk; He makes me think of a centipede, On his seconds and minutes of hundred-odd feet, And every hour one second he stands Then gravely, piously, crosses his hands. My friends, my books, are my pride, And oft we travel far and wide; Roam the seas to foreign lands, lOver the prairies, and desert sands; When I’m thrust behind bars and lock I Beside me stands my little clock. Of course I don’t just watch the clock Or sit with my book on a foreign dock; I have my lawns to trim and mow, And .work inside and clothes to sew; But never lonely you will see, With such a pal to chat to me. Ere I bid my clock good-night, I must perform one simple rite. , If this respect I did not show, He’d get run down and rather slow. A few good turns I therefore pay, Makes my friend talk all next day. —By Beth