The Spoonbill Generator

Strange transmissions, Norah says,       [Apsley ]

Lie crusted on our hull       [Roland ]

And she, of course, should know, because       [Beefy ]

Her wits are far from dull       [Roland ]

But I, with weary head bent low,       [Beefy ]

With foot in heavy clog       [Roland ]

And turpentine below,       [Apsley ]

Am doomed to trudge about this bog       [Roland ]

Until, please Jove, our beacon's gleam       [Beefy ]

Can pierce the freezing mist       [Ethetran ]

When every barnacle will seem       [Roland ]

As glowing amethyst       [Apsley ]

To those whose goal is our relief       [Beefy ]

From creosote and tar       [Roland ]

The darkness creeps in like a thief       [Biblicalish ]

To burst my bubblecar       [Roland ]

I never thought, when we set out       [Beefy ]

That there would be no choice       [Roland ]

We all believed, beyond a doubt,       [Beefy ]

That wisdom had a voice       [Apsley ]

To drown out surly happenstance       [asdf ]

And drink the Liffey dry       [Roland ]

With weight of burly circumstance       [Apsley ]

To crush mine alibi       [Roland ]