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36
THE DREAM
One night the Three Selectors
Came and stood beside my bed.
I found it hard to credit
Their belief in what they said.
They begged of me to captain
The Team prepared to go
Across the sea to Bradman,
And I countered them with No!
Immediately the spokesman
Of the Three began to shout
Confoundedly, and scatter
Certain adjectives about.
Came and stood beside my bed.
I found it hard to credit
Their belief in what they said.
They begged of me to captain
The Team prepared to go
Across the sea to Bradman,
And I countered them with No!
Immediately the spokesman
Of the Three began to shout
Confoundedly, and scatter
Certain adjectives about.
On hearing that Old England
Was determined (this was odd)
To elect me for a season
As a sort of Cricket god,
I began in turn to colour
Like a beetroot, and to shout
Consumedly, and sprinkle
Other adjectives about.
Was determined (this was odd)
To elect me for a season
As a sort of Cricket god,
I began in turn to colour
Like a beetroot, and to shout
Consumedly, and sprinkle
Other adjectives about.
I told them I was busy
With an Epic in the West.
Instanter those Selectors
Were a mass upon my chest.
Surrendering, I bolted
To the Liner with a bat
And drove for four along the deck
The Steward's yellow cat.
With an Epic in the West.
Instanter those Selectors
Were a mass upon my chest.
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To the Liner with a bat
And drove for four along the deck
The Steward's yellow cat.
When flannelled in Australia,
How I bruised the willow-wood!
How I punished Clarence Grimmett
As an English Captain should!
The total score of Bradman
When our enterprise was done—
The Ashes in my kitbag—
Was an egg denoting None.
How I bruised the willow-wood!
How I punished Clarence Grimmett
As an English Captain should!
The total score of Bradman
When our enterprise was done—
The Ashes in my kitbag—
Was an egg denoting None.
What luck! The heart of England
Would be more than peacock-proud.
My fancy heard the cheering
Of the Homeland, long and loud,
And tried to count the faces
Of the thousands come to roar
In volume, that the welkin might
Oblige, as heretofore.
Her demi-gods had silvered
Afresh the rusted shield,
Had shaken hands with Glory,
Had thunderously appealed.
The battle won, they longed to hear
The roar of London pride
Repay them for the total sum
Of handicaps defied
In honour of the deathless game
That Hambledon supplied.
Would be more than peacock-proud.
My fancy heard the cheering
Of the Homeland, long and loud,
And tried to count the faces
Of the thousands come to roar
In volume, that the welkin might
Oblige, as heretofore.
Her demi-gods had silvered
Afresh the rusted shield,
Had shaken hands with Glory,
Had thunderously appealed.
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The roar of London pride
Repay them for the total sum
Of handicaps defied
In honour of the deathless game
That Hambledon supplied.
Well, Hope was but a cripple,
And Fancy but a cheat,
And Justice little else than rind
Of what is sour to eat.
The Dream, so patriotic,
So bewildering, so glib,
Turned out to be as duddy
As a saturated squib
Refusing to be tempted
By a gambol in the sky
When starlit merrymakers roast
Their tipsy-looking guy.
And Fancy but a cheat,
And Justice little else than rind
Of what is sour to eat.
The Dream, so patriotic,
So bewildering, so glib,
Turned out to be as duddy
As a saturated squib
Refusing to be tempted
By a gambol in the sky
When starlit merrymakers roast
Their tipsy-looking guy.
Imagine how at Waterloo
It went against the grain
To find that not a single soul
Had come to meet our train!
It went against the grain
To find that not a single soul
Had come to meet our train!
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