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After Wordsworth's "A slumber did my spirit seal"

 

A plumber did my spirit seal
By error in a water tank.
I felt washed over by despair
As my spirit sank.


My body walked about the town,
On a day both dry and bright.
But my spirit gurgled in the dark,
Damply, without delight.

 

Weeping, I phoned: “Do please undo
Your grave mistake, you plumber.”
But he never checked his messages;
My spirit grew numb, then number.

 

Reader, beware bold craftsmen
Whom insouciance makes bolder.
And should you hire one, always check
Where he’s applying solder.

 

George Simmers


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