Saturday 29 January 2011

Seaside Sights

SEASIDE SIGHTS

Sandy stretches, surging surf, salty smells,
Shelving shore, scorching sun, shining shells,
Sprinkling spray, sparkling surface, stormy sky,
Stuffed stages, sprightly spinsters, suiters shy.
Stylish suits, soaked stockings, splashed skirts,
Sly sparking, soft speeches, summer shirts,
Shrieking swimmers, shapely shoulders, sick swains,
Skinny shins, sunshades, stretching seines,
Scudding schooners, screw steamers, sloops, sails,
Small smacks, strong sailors, silvery scales,
Saving stations, signals, streamers, shrouds, spars,
Skillful skippers steering ships, seats, stars.
Savage sharks, sea serpents, skates, soles,
Snipe, snappers, shrimp, scollops, sunken shoals,
Sea spiders, swarming skeeters, seagulls,
Silly singers, soulful strollers, swift sculls,
Solid-sleep, startling scores, saline sniffs,
Strapped strangers, stern sires, shallops, skiffs,
Splurging striplings, sappy snobs, sudden squalls,
Sedgy swamps, scarfs, satins, silks, shawls,
Sabbath sinners, social scandal, sinkers, snells,
Scheming scamps, Simple Simons, sporting swells.

H.C.DODGE, in Everybody's Book of Jokes, 1889

1 comment:

  1. An impressive tour de force, combining wit with creative imagination. I particularly liked the "sly sparking".

    Incidentally, glimpsed between the lines are delicious details of Victorian beach life.

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