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 O! before you hurry by with ladder and with light,
O Leerie, see a little child and nod to him tonight!

As I've discovered in the past Edinburgh is full of little gems sprinkled around the city. This plaque, by the street lamp next to the steps of the childhood home of Robert Louis Stephenson has an edited version of the above poem.

Stephenson, the author of classics such as Treasure Island and The Strange Case of Jeykyll and Hyde wrote the poem in memory of his own childhood.

He was a very sickly child and every night the local lamplighter or leerie would wave to him up in his bedroom as he lit the lamps


Very touching.