So you’ve traipsed round the sights of our city,
\nBridge of Vows, the Ostensible Zoo,
\nand, equipped with a light, seen the Well of the Night,
\nmaybe hauled up a bucket or two.
\nBut there are some wonders less vaunted,
\nlike House Half or the Reverie Mill,
\nthere’s a cloister close by where old songs go to die
\nand just past it – there’s Watchmaker Hill.<\/p>\n
Oh, ain’t it a sight in the morning,
\nwith the steam rising out of each store?
\nEverywhere you taste time on the air,
\nand those sounds when you open a door!
\nThere’s a whirring and purring and clicking,
\nthere’s a jingling and sometimes a scream,
\nand the watches themselves that reside on the shelves
\nseem straight from some spring-powered dream.
\nSome are driven by sand, coal or cider,
\nsome are potted or baked or crocheted,
\nSome I knew only ran on a Wednesday or when
\nunder water, or if they were paid.<\/p>\n
Like the one made for Lady MacKenzie,
\nthat skipped time with a nudge of the hands –
\nshe skipped seldom at first, just omitting the worst,
\nlike keen pain or the passing of friends.
\nBut she soon went from „grievous“ to „irksome“,
\nskipping every discomfort or flaw,
\na nosebleed or splinter, the tax, a cold winter
\nor tea with her mother-in-law.
\nHer life dashed by ever more quickly,
\nmissing many a year at this stage.
\nShe skipped her last breath but she could not skip death –
\nthe youngest to go at her age.<\/p>\n
Then those tiny, bright clocks that ran backwards
\nfor a while were considered tr\u00e9s chic,
\nfor at times you’d recall whom you’d fancy come fall
\nor the book you had read the next week.
\nSmitty siphoned the sound of the ticking
\nto the gaps in between with some skill.
\nThe result proved quite scaring – a silence so blaring
\nit woke half of Watchmaker Hill.<\/p>\n
Do you remember Will Fairbanks?
\nBy an intricate temporal sieve
\nhis clock could replay any minute or day
\nthat its owner might wish to relive.
\nWell, Will aged twenty years in a fortnight,
\nas he dwelled on old courtships and thrills – – –
\nthey recall his wide smile though it’s been quite a while
\nsince they’ve seen him on Watchmaker Hill.<\/p>\n
Then there was the day when Mad Matthews,
\nto stop time, built the Great Master Clock.
\nAnd it worked! In this clime on the stroke of the chime. . .
\n. . .
\n. . .
\nWell, it worked not as such for the strain was too much,
\nthe pendulum rumbled, the gaskets all crumbled
\nand off went the clock in a frenzied tick-tock,
\nthe workshop was shredded, Mad Matthews beheaded,
\nfrom where the clock towered the whole hill was showered
\nin a deluge of cogwheels and time. . .
\n(That was one loooong afternoon.)
\nMatthews‘ heirs pay indemnities still.
\nSuch is life here on Watchmaker Hill.
\nLadies and gents, come to Watchmaker Hill!
\nVisit the wonders of Watchmaker Hill!
\nWatchmaker Hill!
\nWatchmaker Watchmaker Watchmaker Watchmaker Watchmaker. . . (Chime)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Lyrics and music: \u00a9 2012 by Eva Van Daele-Hunt<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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