KEEPING TERM AFTER COMMEMORATION.
(Not by A.—T., Esq.)
I STEAL by lawns, to check the train
Of meditations started
By seeing duns that come in vain
For happy men departed.
By empty rooms I hurry down,
So stumbling down the staircase;
The cads within the sleepy town
Think mine a very rare case.
I hail a boat, and down I row
Along the lonely river,
For other lucky men may go,
But I seem here for ever.
I murmur under moon and stars,
I feel in lunar phrenzy,
I chide the cursèd fate that bars
My exit from B. N. C.
I slope, I slouch, I speed, I stop,
And scan the empty High Street,
I turn me into Boffin's shop,
To cheer me with an ice-treat,
Till ice and sad reflection slow
My diaphragm make quiver,
For other lucky men may go,
But I seem here for ever.
I roam about, and in and out
Poke eyes with envy yellow,
And here and there I spy a scout,
And here and there a fellow.
And here and there a good mamma,
Her squalling baby nursing,
Looks on me pitying, with an "Ah,
Poor fellow, how he's cursing!"
For, sailor like, I storm and "blow
My eyes" and "timbers shiver,"
That other lucky men may go,
But I seem here for ever.
BRASENOSE COLLEGE, Oxford.
College Rhymes, 1870.