He was an alumni of my University, I didn’t know it was going to be that way when I voraciously read his works as a child. I think he is a writer of extraordinary merit and literary genius. I think it is a priviledge to have lived in his country. Here is one of my favourites and one of his littler known works.
The Lamplighter
My tea is nearly ready and the sun has left the sky.
It’s time to take the window to see Leerie going by;
For every night at teatime and before you take your seat,
With lantern and with ladder he comes posting up the street.
Now Tom would be a driver and Maria go to sea,
And my papa’s a banker and as rich as he can be;
But I, when I am stronger and can choose what I’m to do,
O Leerie, I’ll go round at night and light the lamps with you!
For we are very lucky, with a lamp before the door,
And Leerie stops to light it as he lights so many more;
And oh! before you hurry by with ladder and with light;
O Leerie, see a little child and nod to him to-night!
-Robert Louis Stevenson
Taken on the Royal Mile, Edinburgh
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