THE LAST LAMP OF THE ALLEY.
Reading edition
A MOORE-ISH MELODY. The last lamp of the alley Is burning alone! All its brilliant companions Are shivered and gone; No lamp of her kindred, No burner is nigh To rival her glimmer Or light to supply. I’ll not leave thee, thou lone one, To vanish in smoke, As the bright ones are shattered, Thou too shalt be broke: Thus kindly I scatter Thy globe o’er the street, Where the watch in his rambles Thy fragments shall meet. Then home will I stagger As well as I may, By the light of my nose, sure, I’ll find out the way; When thy blaze is extinguished, Thy brilliancy gone, Oh! my beak shall illumine The alley alone! William Maginn, LL.D.
“I’LL NOT LEAVE THEE, THOU LONE ONE.”