with apologies to lord tennyson

with apologies to lord tennyson

O swallow-tailed purveyor of college sprees, O skilled to please the student fraternity, Most honoured publican of Scotland, Milton, a name to adorn the Cross Keys; Whose chosen waiters, Samuel, Archibald, Helped by the boots and marker at billiards, Wait, as the smoke-filled, crowded chamber Rings to the roar of a Gaelic chorus— Me rather all those temperance hostelries, The soda siphon fizzily murmuring, And lime fruit juice and seltzer water Charm, as a wanderer out in South Street, Where some recruiting, eager Blue-Ribbonites Spied me afar and caught by the Post Office, And crimson-nosed the latest convert Fastened the odious badge upon me.

p. 65MAGNI NOMINIS UMBRA

p. 65

St. Andrews! not for ever thine shall be Merely the shadow of a mighty name, The remnant only of an ancient fame Which time has crumbled, as thy rocks the sea.

For thou, to whom was given the earliest key Of knowledge in this land (and all men came To learn of thee), shalt once more rise and claim The glory that of right belongs to thee.

Grey in thine age, there yet in thee abides The force of youth, to make thyself anew A name of honour and a place of power. Arise, then! shake the dust from off thy sides; Thou shalt have many where thou now hast few; Again thou shalt be great. Quick come the hour!

p. 66SONG FROM ‘THE PRINCESS’

p. 66

As through the street at eve we went  (It might be half-past ten), We fell out, my friend and I, About the cube of x+y, And made it up again. And blessings on the falling out Between two learned men, Who fight on points which neither knows, And make it up again! For when we came where stands an inn We visit now and then, There above a pint of beer, Oh there above a pint of beer, We made it up again.

p. 67ANDREW M’CRIE

p. 67

from the unpublished remains of edgar allan poe

from the unpublished remains of edgar allan poe

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