 | Messrs Bat and Ball |  |
45
LONG AGO
Many, many times I went
Along the leafy lanes of Kent,
Driving with a sunburnt set
Of clubmates in a wagonette.
Yellowhammers used to dip
Loopingly ahead and slip
Fast toward a cool recess
Of honeysuckle's loveliness,
Long, long ago.
Along the leafy lanes of Kent,
Driving with a sunburnt set
Of clubmates in a wagonette.
Yellowhammers used to dip
Loopingly ahead and slip
Fast toward a cool recess
Of honeysuckle's loveliness,
Long, long ago.
How it pleasured me to sit
And learn my England, bit by bit;
Trying not to nurse the thought
Of, later, getting out for nought!
Runs were riches then, and meant,
After broody discontent,
Hopes and promises of flame
To sparkle in the Foremost Game,
Long, long ago.
And learn my England, bit by bit;
Trying not to nurse the thought
Of, later, getting out for nought!
Runs were riches then, and meant,
After broody discontent,
Hopes and promises of flame
To sparkle in the Foremost Game,
Long, long ago.
Looking back, I note the green
Alive with those that long have been
Shadows of the village set
Of partners in a wagonette.
Memory, warming, now re-tells
Stolen runs. A million cells,
Murmuring cricket in my brain,
Agree to publish once again
Long, long ago.
Alive with those that long have been
Shadows of the village set
Of partners in a wagonette.
Memory, warming, now re-tells
Stolen runs. A million cells,
46
Agree to publish once again
Long, long ago.
Homeward many times I went—
A moody boy—by lanes in Kent,
Bidding Fancy flog the ball
That bowled me to the boundary wall.
Yet, when yellowhammers flung
Plumage to the air and swung,
Quick of passage, out of sight,
The sour turned sweet, the dark grew bright,
Long, long ago.
A moody boy—by lanes in Kent,
Bidding Fancy flog the ball
That bowled me to the boundary wall.
Yet, when yellowhammers flung
Plumage to the air and swung,
Quick of passage, out of sight,
The sour turned sweet, the dark grew bright,
Long, long ago.
| Messrs Bat and Ball | |