The Lyrical Streams of Mann

We have sung the old Missouri

And the Mississippi too;

We have sung the Minnetonka,

We have sung the Danube blue;

But there’s many an island streamlet

In its beauty and its grace

Claims more than a passing notice

And deserves to take a place.

 

Let us have a song about the Sulby;

Let us croon a ditty on the Dhoo;

Let us have a serenade

From a lover to his maid

As they watch the Neb go rippling through.

Let us warble gaily on the Colby,

Drift to music on the Silverburn;

Let us to the Glass

Make music while it pass;

Oh let us sing with glee

A lilting melody

In honour of the streams of Mann, where’er they twist and turn.

 

We have sung of Allan Water,

We have sung about the Rhine;

We have known the miller’s daughter,

We have sung of Clementine;

But in this our dear old island,

Where much laughing water gleams,

It is time we put to music

All the beauty of its streams.

 

Let us croon a song about Sulby;

Let us croon a ditty on the Dhoo;

Let us hear the merry dance

Where Ballure and Laxey glance

Wander up the Baldwins with a madrigal or two;

Let us warble gaily on the Colby

Hymn Killane and Lhen and Santonburn;

Dalby and Glenmaye,

From Crogga to Cornaa,

Oh, let us sing with glee

A lilting melody

In honour of the streams of Mann, where’er they twist and turn.

Weekly Times 26.5.61