The Romance of a Watch

One day his father said to John:
"Come here and see what I hev bought---
A Waterbury watch, my son--
It is the boon you long hev sought!"

The boy could scarcely believe his eyes--
The watch was shiny, smooth an' slick--
He snatched the nickel-plated prize
An' wound away to hear it tick.

He wound an' wound, an' wound an' wound,
An' kept a windin' fit to kill--
The weeks an' months an' years rolled round,
But John he kep' a windin', still!

As autumns came an' winters went
An' summers follered arter spring,
John didn't mind--he was intent
On windin' up that darned ol' thing.

He got to be a poor ol' man--
He's bald an' deaf an' blind an' lame,
But, like he did when he began,
He keeps on windin', jest the same!