Poem by John Masefield

Evening-Regatta Day

Your nose is a red jelly, your mouth’s a toothless wreck,
And I’m atop of you, banging your head upon the dirty deck;
And both your eyes are bunged and blind like those of a mewling pup,
For you’re the juggins who caught the crab and lost the ship the Cup.

He caught a crab in the spurt home, this blushing cherub did,
And the ‘Craigie’s’ whaler slipped ahead like a cart-wheel on the skid,
And beat us fair by a boat’s nose though we sweated fit to start her,
So we are playing at Nero now, and he’s the Christian martyr.

And Stroke is lashing a bunch of keys to the buckle-end a belt,
And we’re going to lay you over a chest and baste you till you melt.
The ‘Craigie’ boys are beating the bell and cheering down the tier,
D’ye hear, you Port Mahone baboon, I ask you, do you hear?

1. A Creed
2. The Turn of the Tide
3. A Valediction (Liverpool Docks)
4. Port of Many Ships
5. Cape Horn Gospel - I

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