"Do go on, Diamond. Don't mind me," I said.

He began again at once. While he sang, Nanny and Jim sat a little
way off, one hemming a pocket-handkerchief, and the other reading
a story to her, but they never heeded Diamond. This is as near
what he sang as I can recollect, or reproduce rather.

What would you see if I took you up
To my little nest in the air?
You would see the sky like a clear blue cup
Turned upside downwards there.

What would you do if I took you there
To my little nest in the tree?
My child with cries would trouble the air,
To get what she could but see.

What would you get in the top of the tree
For all your crying and grief?
Not a star would you clutch of all you see --
You could only gather a leaf.

But when you had lost your greedy grief,
Content to see from afar,
You would find in your hand a withering leaf,
In your heart a shining star.

As Diamond went on singing, it grew very dark, and just as he
ceased there came a great flash of lightning, that blinded us all