They told me he was skilful, and assiduous, and true,
They told me he had "carried" for the bravest and the best.
His hair was soldier-scarlet, and his eyes were saucer blue,
And one seemed looking eastward, whilst the other fronted west.
His strabismus was a startler, and it shook my nerve at once;
It affected me with dizziness, like gazing from a height.
I straddled like a duffer, and I wavered like a dunce,
And my right hand felt a left one, and my left felt far from right.
As I watched him place my ball with his visual axes crossed,
The very sunshine glimmered, with a queer confusing glint,