The Country Seat
(Ode to an Old Loo)

They were built like emporia
in the reign of Victoria
In the castle or Manor or Grange,
With these seats made of wood,
which have gamely withstood
Pressures greater than mere winds of change.

Boys with bats, balls or oars,
Sportsmen sporting 12 bores
Gaze in rows from the walls on the sitter.
Draughts and damp old stone tiles,
means to-days stately piles
Suffer badly from cold that is bitter.
But forget all the strain,
pull the gleaming brass chain
(with porcelain handle no less)
And realeased by a piston,
from within a vast cistern
Comes a roar and you’re flushed with success!

Submitted by Irene O’Neill.