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8
CAMBRIDGE ROWING, 1874-8
It's vastly engaging
When a snowstorm is raging,
And a hurricane shrieks
Thro' shadowy breeks,
To loaf by the river
And grumble and shiver
Until the boat-captain,
His ‘ulster’ well wrapt in,
Appears on the scene.
When a snowstorm is raging,
And a hurricane shrieks
Thro' shadowy breeks,
To loaf by the river
And grumble and shiver
Until the boat-captain,
His ‘ulster’ well wrapt in,
Appears on the scene.
And when we are ready,
The ‘ship’ isn't steady,
The water is ‘heady,’
The ‘work’ is oppressive,
The captain aggressive,
And swearing like mad
By everything bad—
Eternally slanging
The writer for ‘hanging,’
For ‘sugaring,’ ‘cocking,’
Or ‘knifing,’ or ‘rocking’—
And when a boat-captain,
His dignity wrapt in,
Develops his views
Bad language ensues.
The ‘ship’ isn't steady,
The water is ‘heady,’
The ‘work’ is oppressive,
The captain aggressive,
And swearing like mad
By everything bad—
Eternally slanging
The writer for ‘hanging,’
For ‘sugaring,’ ‘cocking,’
Or ‘knifing,’ or ‘rocking’—
9
His dignity wrapt in,
Develops his views
Bad language ensues.
I'll endeavour to paint,
In portraiture faint,
The pleasures of rowing;
Commencing by showing
The style of oration
The youth of this nation
Requires to inflame
His yearning for Fame,
And will offer it thee
In paraphrase free,
Replacing by dashes
Such language as clashes
With prevalent notion
Of verbal emotion.
In portraiture faint,
The pleasures of rowing;
Commencing by showing
The style of oration
The youth of this nation
Requires to inflame
His yearning for Fame,
And will offer it thee
In paraphrase free,
Replacing by dashes
Such language as clashes
With prevalent notion
Of verbal emotion.
(CAPTAIN'S ADDRESS FROM THE TOWING-PATH.)
Get her ready!
Forward! Row!
Keep her steady!
Let her go!
Now she's strolling!
Sit ùp! Bow!
You are ròlling
Like a cow!
Now then, D—N it!
Blazes, Two!
Trỳ to lamn it
On, man, do!
Feel your strètchers!
Curse you, Three!
(Can't you, splash it
Over me?)
Swing togèther
Every oar!
Off the feàther
Sooner, Four!
Keep your bàcks up!
Look alìve!
Where d'you hope to
Go to, Five?
(Go to Heaven?
Go to H—ll!)
Six, you're cocking!
Seven, you're làte!
Shocking, shocking,
Ghastly Eight!
Keep it gòing!
Nèver saw
D-mnder rowing!
E-A-S-Y all.
Forward! Row!
Keep her steady!
Let her go!
Now she's strolling!
Sit ùp! Bow!
10
Like a cow!
Now then, D—N it!
Blazes, Two!
Trỳ to lamn it
On, man, do!
Feel your strètchers!
Curse you, Three!
(Can't you, splash it
Over me?)
Swing togèther
Every oar!
Off the feàther
Sooner, Four!
Keep your bàcks up!
Look alìve!
Where d'you hope to
Go to, Five?
(Go to Heaven?
Go to H—ll!)
Six, you're cocking!
Seven, you're làte!
Shocking, shocking,
Ghastly Eight!
11
Nèver saw
D-mnder rowing!
E-A-S-Y all.
Why should I continue?
'Tis surely not in you
To list any longer
To language no stronger
Than dash it, or d—n it,
And yet if I cram it
With oaths better suited
To please the polluted
I fear some ill fame
May attach to my name;
For I often aspire
In poetry higher,
And care not to venture
Incurring the censure
Of scandalised readers
In eloquent ‘leaders,’
For I shrewdly suspect
They would rise and reject
And spurn and resent all,
With anger prodigious,
My songs sentimental,
My epics religious.
'Tis surely not in you
To list any longer
To language no stronger
Than dash it, or d—n it,
And yet if I cram it
With oaths better suited
To please the polluted
I fear some ill fame
May attach to my name;
For I often aspire
In poetry higher,
And care not to venture
Incurring the censure
Of scandalised readers
In eloquent ‘leaders,’
For I shrewdly suspect
They would rise and reject
And spurn and resent all,
With anger prodigious,
My songs sentimental,
My epics religious.
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