The Great Diamond of Liverpool (CTG)

The Great Diamond of Liverpool

sparkled in space in a cabinet
in the old museum down the hallway
from the Great Whale.

Families from miles around trooped
into the gallery to gawp
at the shimmering jewel.

Tycoons and Indian rajahs journeyed
to the port city to worship
and covet its shining facets.

Children smudged the glass
with their awe as guards
in Corporation blue stood by.

When King George and Queen Mary came
to the city to open the Mersey Tunnel,
they declared it more spectacular

than the Crown Jewels
in the Tower of London, such
was its flashing magnificence.

The mystery of what happened
to the Great Diamond endures today.
Possibly it was lost in the Blitz along

with the Great Whale, or else, as
many believe, some Robin Hood,
a people's hero, stole it one night

and showered the poor with its riches.

Christopher T. George