Premonition

I said, “Let’s all do something dramatic!”
Another, “A play like we did in the attic.”
Then Tom, “Yes, quite right;
“We’ll do that. I’ll recite.”
And without more ado
He had struck up a pose
In a moment or two
And his sonorous voice rose
As he ‘gan to declaim
“The Revenge” (to his shame!)
But he hadn’t got far
When he stopped, looked at me,
Cried, “You gave me a jar
With your close scrutiny.
This is rank mutiny!”
There was silence a space,
And we heard the clock race;
It was midnight. No chime
Rang to tell us the time,
But a rattle and whirr,
As the clock muttered “G-r-r!”
“That clock’s fast”
Said someone at last.
“Quite five minutes, I’m told;
So the year is still old.”
So we waited until it was new,
Which it was when five minutes had fled,
And we sat while nothing was said.
So while no one spoke
We all waited the stroke.
It was more than a joke.

Then,
The clock struck three!
An omen!
“Something will happen at three o’clock”
Whispered Pearl,
Superstitious girl,
Looking as white as the hue of her frock.
Yes, it happened all right;
It happened at three.
Ere I blew out the light,
It happened to me –
Though I can’t say it gave me a shock;
But at three I took off my left sock!

1. 1. 1928