Cambridge Re-Visited
" Wait till you come to forty year! "
I
Among the haunts of sage and saint,
Where I was wont to wear the gown
And honestly attempt to paint
The town,
I greet again the gracious Hall
That nurtured me when I began
To be what one is pleased to call
A man.
And now I move at " forty year "
More pensively than once of yore,
And quite a lot of things appear
A bore.
The jaunts and japes of long ago,
That pleased me then, no longer please,
In part because I tend to grow
Obese.
Nor can I altogether gloze
The fact that when a man is stout
A stately port will pre-dispose
To gout.
Which things affront the Freshman who
Regards it as the cream of crimes
To be at all posterior to
The times.
And when I pass him, flushed and keen,
Light-hearted, sound of limb and lung,
I feel I never could have been
So young.
The spotless tie, the spangled vest,
A chrysalis that bursts the shell! —
I had forgotten that he dressed
So well!
But if my taste resembled his,
But now assumes a sober tone,
The fault indubitably is
My own.
For since Britannia ruled the sea,
Through all the rounded seasons' range,
He changes never; it is we
That change.
Along the towing-path I strolled;
The situation seemed the same,
And every one was at the old,
Old game.
I passed a little sporting knot
That held in leash the mongrel cur;
I saw that things were fairly what
They were.
I stood to watch a waiting boat;
The coach was cursing No. 3;
The fellow had the face to quote
From me!
Full hoary when I made them mine,
These wrinkles, trusty, tried and true —
He ran them out as something fine
And new!
He wore with all the old aplomb
His rude extensions; nay, I found
They ended even farther from
The ground.
The captains roamed the river-side;
I wondered, seeing how they sat, —
" Great Nimrod! did we really ride
Like that? "
A raucous beast assailed my eye;
" I know that horse, " I said, " it comes
From — " well, I recognised it by
Its gums.
The same whose ribs were like to swords,
Who, when I tossed my men a tip,
Would turn his tufted tail towards
The ship!
Anon by Barnwell's oozy bed
I sniffed the old familiar stench;
" Toujours le même vieux jeu! " I said
(In French).
All this was beautiful and right,
Long since accepted, long approved;
And yet I own it left me quite
Unmoved.
Perhaps my case was pretty much
His sorry case of whom they sing,
Tithonus, deadly out of touch
With Spring.
For age is apt to loose the link
Of chains that early manhood tied,
And cause a kind of mental kink
Inside.
I could, if necessary, spin
A column on this hallowed text;
I hope to add a trifle in
My next.
CAMBRIDGE RE-VISITED
II
Thus musing (see my last) I left the bank
That curbs the eager current of the Cam;
This myth of Alma Mater seemed a blank
And hollow sham.
I lit a large cigar; I often do
Unconsciously when feeling desolate;
Unconsciously I reached and sauntered through
My College gate.
My course was theoretically barred
By that profound and venerable joke,
I mean the printed notice with regard
To dogs and smoke.
I entered; as I trod the verdant plot
An Apparition came within my ken;
My Tutor, I had always said, was not
As other men.
I felt the old effect of being foiled,
Of having no resource except to go;
In fact, by force of habit I recoiled
A yard or so.
He wrought around me some forgotten spell;
I doffed my weed and hat for fear of him;
The ash unfortunately broke and fell
Upon the brim.
" I find that you " — he spoke and slightly bowed —
" Are guilty of a complicated tort;
No dogs " (I hadn't any) " are allowed
Within the court,
" Nor smoking. Vulgar passage we permit
Exclusively upon the paving-stones;
All persons who — why, bless me, surely it
Is Mr. Jones?
" Nay, no apologies! Our private right
We fence from public usufruct — that's all!
You're looking well; you dine, I hope, to-night
With us in Hall? "
I clinched the proposition hard. Indeed
It seemed a boon beyond the common share
To sit above the salt and calmly feed
On Fellows' fare.
I found them, frankly, quite a decent set;
They touched upon the scandals of the town,
And even now and then exchanged a bet
Of half-a-crown.
Below me, from my elevated seat,
Maintaining there a perfect equipoise,
I watched the rising generation eat
And make a noise.
On yonder lowly bench I once had sat,
Had laved in tepid soup my beardless lips,
And furiously fulminated at
The jaded gyps.
I thought of him — long gathered to the past —
Whose voice would break upon my tympanum,
" More beef, Sir " — with a strong and steady blast
Of fog and rum.
All this was over. At my dexter hand
The stately College butler deigned to pour
Dry academic sherry, vintage brand
Of '64.
We mounted to the Combination Room:
It seemed to me a very nice resort;
And there we lingered late to cull the bloom
Of peerless port.
And in the glow that follows goodly cheer
I learned that if you meet the proper lot
You find the 'Varsity at " forty year "
A pleasant spot.
And so I tossed to-morrow to the wind,
Along with gout and " hydrops, gryps, and pons " ;
And said — " Fate cannot touch me, I have dined
To-day with Dons! "
I
Among the haunts of sage and saint,
Where I was wont to wear the gown
And honestly attempt to paint
The town,
I greet again the gracious Hall
That nurtured me when I began
To be what one is pleased to call
A man.
And now I move at " forty year "
More pensively than once of yore,
And quite a lot of things appear
A bore.
The jaunts and japes of long ago,
That pleased me then, no longer please,
In part because I tend to grow
Obese.
Nor can I altogether gloze
The fact that when a man is stout
A stately port will pre-dispose
To gout.
Which things affront the Freshman who
Regards it as the cream of crimes
To be at all posterior to
The times.
And when I pass him, flushed and keen,
Light-hearted, sound of limb and lung,
I feel I never could have been
So young.
The spotless tie, the spangled vest,
A chrysalis that bursts the shell! —
I had forgotten that he dressed
So well!
But if my taste resembled his,
But now assumes a sober tone,
The fault indubitably is
My own.
For since Britannia ruled the sea,
Through all the rounded seasons' range,
He changes never; it is we
That change.
Along the towing-path I strolled;
The situation seemed the same,
And every one was at the old,
Old game.
I passed a little sporting knot
That held in leash the mongrel cur;
I saw that things were fairly what
They were.
I stood to watch a waiting boat;
The coach was cursing No. 3;
The fellow had the face to quote
From me!
Full hoary when I made them mine,
These wrinkles, trusty, tried and true —
He ran them out as something fine
And new!
He wore with all the old aplomb
His rude extensions; nay, I found
They ended even farther from
The ground.
The captains roamed the river-side;
I wondered, seeing how they sat, —
" Great Nimrod! did we really ride
Like that? "
A raucous beast assailed my eye;
" I know that horse, " I said, " it comes
From — " well, I recognised it by
Its gums.
The same whose ribs were like to swords,
Who, when I tossed my men a tip,
Would turn his tufted tail towards
The ship!
Anon by Barnwell's oozy bed
I sniffed the old familiar stench;
" Toujours le même vieux jeu! " I said
(In French).
All this was beautiful and right,
Long since accepted, long approved;
And yet I own it left me quite
Unmoved.
Perhaps my case was pretty much
His sorry case of whom they sing,
Tithonus, deadly out of touch
With Spring.
For age is apt to loose the link
Of chains that early manhood tied,
And cause a kind of mental kink
Inside.
I could, if necessary, spin
A column on this hallowed text;
I hope to add a trifle in
My next.
CAMBRIDGE RE-VISITED
II
Thus musing (see my last) I left the bank
That curbs the eager current of the Cam;
This myth of Alma Mater seemed a blank
And hollow sham.
I lit a large cigar; I often do
Unconsciously when feeling desolate;
Unconsciously I reached and sauntered through
My College gate.
My course was theoretically barred
By that profound and venerable joke,
I mean the printed notice with regard
To dogs and smoke.
I entered; as I trod the verdant plot
An Apparition came within my ken;
My Tutor, I had always said, was not
As other men.
I felt the old effect of being foiled,
Of having no resource except to go;
In fact, by force of habit I recoiled
A yard or so.
He wrought around me some forgotten spell;
I doffed my weed and hat for fear of him;
The ash unfortunately broke and fell
Upon the brim.
" I find that you " — he spoke and slightly bowed —
" Are guilty of a complicated tort;
No dogs " (I hadn't any) " are allowed
Within the court,
" Nor smoking. Vulgar passage we permit
Exclusively upon the paving-stones;
All persons who — why, bless me, surely it
Is Mr. Jones?
" Nay, no apologies! Our private right
We fence from public usufruct — that's all!
You're looking well; you dine, I hope, to-night
With us in Hall? "
I clinched the proposition hard. Indeed
It seemed a boon beyond the common share
To sit above the salt and calmly feed
On Fellows' fare.
I found them, frankly, quite a decent set;
They touched upon the scandals of the town,
And even now and then exchanged a bet
Of half-a-crown.
Below me, from my elevated seat,
Maintaining there a perfect equipoise,
I watched the rising generation eat
And make a noise.
On yonder lowly bench I once had sat,
Had laved in tepid soup my beardless lips,
And furiously fulminated at
The jaded gyps.
I thought of him — long gathered to the past —
Whose voice would break upon my tympanum,
" More beef, Sir " — with a strong and steady blast
Of fog and rum.
All this was over. At my dexter hand
The stately College butler deigned to pour
Dry academic sherry, vintage brand
Of '64.
We mounted to the Combination Room:
It seemed to me a very nice resort;
And there we lingered late to cull the bloom
Of peerless port.
And in the glow that follows goodly cheer
I learned that if you meet the proper lot
You find the 'Varsity at " forty year "
A pleasant spot.
And so I tossed to-morrow to the wind,
Along with gout and " hydrops, gryps, and pons " ;
And said — " Fate cannot touch me, I have dined
To-day with Dons! "
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