25 August 2010

Ah for a bit of William T

THE MOON
by William McGonagall

Beautiful Moon, with thy silvery light,
Thou seemest most charming to my sight;
As I gaze upon thee in the sky so high,
A tear of joy does moisten mine eye.

Beautiful Moon, with thy silvery light,
Thou cheerest the Esquimau in the night;
For thou lettest him see to harpoon the fish,
And with them he makes a dainty dish.

Beautiful Moon, with thy silvery light,
Thou cheerest the fox in the night,
And lettest him see to steal the grey goose away
Out of the farm-yard from a stack of hay.

Beautiful Moon, with thy silvery light,
Thou cheerest the farmer in the night,
and makes his heart beat high with delight
As he views his crops by the light in the night.

Beautiful Moon, with thy silvery light,
Thou cheerest the eagle in the night,
And lettest him see to devour his prey
And carry it to his nest away.

Beautiful Moon, with thy silvery light,
Thou cheerest the mariner in the night
As he paces the deck alone,
Thinking of his dear friends at home.

Beautiful Moon, with thy silvery light,
Thou cheerest the weary traveller in the night;
For thou lightest up the wayside around
To him when he is homeward bound.

Beautiful Moon, with thy silvery light,
Thou cheerest the lovers in the night
As they walk through the shady groves alone,
Making love to each other before they go home.

Beautiful Moon, with thy silvery light,
Thou cheerest the poacher in the night;
For thou lettest him see to set his snares
To catch the rabbit and the hares.


Got to McGonagall Online for all the McGonagall you will ever need!

11 comments:

Sean Jeating said...

Fullmoonating!

Sergeant Pluck said...

Fullmoonant

Tom Freeman said...

He never disappoints. I love that website, will have to sign up for the daily dose!

Did you see this article about him? (A few months old but has only just popped up on Arts & Letters Daily.) Goes off on a random tangent at the end, but otherwise quite interesting. It'd take a heart of stone not to laugh...

jams o donnell said...

I used to work with a guy called John McGonigall, his firte being bad jokes rather than sublime poetry, Sean, Sgt, His favourite coment was so quiet you could hear a pun drop!

He is a national treasure Tom! I had not seen the article. Thanks for the link

Ruth said...

Can't help but love a fellow Dundonian!

jams o donnell said...

AH what's not to love Ruth!

Stan said...

A delight. You can feel his desire to share the pleasure he took in nature. Like Tom, I just saw the New Criterion essay today (also via A&L Daily).

[The Captcha request is "suavert". I wonder how suave was McGonagall.]

Claude said...

The moon has a great sense of humour. I think the fellow up there always forgives sesquipedalian rhimers. When I'm short of inspiration for my own verses, I always go to the dear poet, and steal a line or two. Shakespeare would have done the same. Redundance is no sin in the Country of the Soul.

jams o donnell said...

That's true Stan, he may have been a gloriously dreadful poet but there is joy in his work. THe article is excellent eh?

It certainly does have a pull. If it can affect werewolves then why not poets. If the fellow up there exists I hope he would look favourably on those who gave their all like MacG certainly does!

SnoopyTheGoon said...

When I came to the poacher, I broke down in tears. Got me.

jams o donnell said...

William T brings a tear to everyone's eyes Snoopy!