A NEW CHRISTMAS SONG.
(Adapted to the Times from In Memoriam).
Apropos of the wet winter of 1872.
WRING out the clouds in that damp sky,
Which all this year so drear have made,
If, for the weather's clerk, her trade
A weather-washerwoman ply.
Wring out the old, wring in the new,
Wring, weather-washerwoman, so,
That wet shod if the Old Year must go
The New may damps and dumps eschew.
Wring out the wet that stands in clay,
Rots the potatoes in their bed,
Fingers and toes gives swedes instead
Of bellies in the usual way.
Wring out my mouchoir, damp with flow
Of constant cold through warp and woof,
Bring in a patent waterproof,
Through whose seams raindrops will not go.
Wring out the shirts, wring out the skin,
To which I've been wet many times;
Ring out the raindrops' pattering chimes,
And bring some drier weather in!
Punch, December 28, 1872.