THE WEST-OF-WESSEX GIRL

A very West-of-Wessex girl, 

As blithe as blithe could be, 

Was once well-known to me, 

And she would laud her native town, 

And hope and hope that we 

Might sometime study up and down 

Its charms in company. 

But never I squired my Wessex girl 

In jaunts to Hoe or street 

When hearts were high in beat, 

Nor saw her in the marbled ways 

Where market-people meet 

That in her bounding early days 

Were friendly with her feet. 

Yet now my West-of-Wessex girl, 

When midnight hammers slow 

From Andrew's, blow by blow, 

As phantom draws me by the hand 

To the place - Plymouth Hoe - 

Where side by side in life, as planned, 

We never were to go! 

-o0o-