Classic Poem

Pindarum quisquis studet aemulari

The minor prophet who will dare
To emulate The Truthful Star ,
'E very often dunno where
'E are.

Bounding along as torrents bound,
A babe with nobody to mind him,
At any match on any ground
You find him.

A horoscope in either eye,
He'll fix your dial to a minute;
Ezekiel and Malachi
Aren't in it.

A month ago he stoutly swore
Our chances were but sickly queer
With what he called the " leather " or
The " sphere. "

And now he drinks the bitter cup,
Because appearances deceive,
And people may have something up
Their sleeve.

Nevertheless beside the boats
Presumably upon the scent
The " chiel's " at Putney " takin' notes "
To " prent. "

As harmless as a patent bomb,
Or bantam egg that's freshly laid,
He barely knows the handle from
The blade.

Instead of urging us to bid
The odds upon the Oxford eight,
He'd better do as Pindar did
And wait;

Though even Pindar felt the germ
Of literary competition,
And bustled for the Early Worm
Edition;

Starting a bit before to ring
The usual ancestral chime,
And that was how he scanned the thing
In time.

Let others lift a lordly strain,
And vow with high-falutin' boast
To have the dauntless Fry again
On toast;

I only pray that on the day
We hold our own by flood and field,
When the cerulean array
Is peeled.

To that effect it's not amiss
To set my humble quill to squeak,
And pledge our luck from now to this
Day week.

I have a port, a fruity port,
It ill becomes my pen to puff,
But anyhow it's not the sort
Of stuff

The student takes to wash his food
Not twenty miles from Temple Bar,
But long in wood when Consols stood
At par.

Therewith empurpled I shall call
In strident tones upon the crew,
Straining my baritone till all
Is blue.

And should we win I'll do my best,
If still my throat is audiendum ,
To sound a bumper ode — Nunc est
Bibendum!

You, Sir, will occupy a stand,
Or take your dejeuner at large
Upon the cheerful four-in-hand
Or barge;

I choose the many-peopled bank,
With that most charming of abortions,
Dog of the crescent legs and lank
Proportions;

There, little dachshund, you shall strike
Beholders with your black and tan,
Sporting the Cambridge colours like
A man.