Edmund Clarence Stedman

Round the Old Board

Vigintennial Dinner, Class of 1853

                     Air—"Cheer, Boys, Cheer!"

Round the old board once more we feast together!
   ⁠Thrice and again our hearts have drawn us here;
Long have we sailed, in fair and stormy weather;
⁠   Here we are in port, though we 've voyaged many a year.
Each a tale can tell—like him of Homer's story,
⁠   Patient Ulysses upon the sounding main;
Some have gathered gold, and some have gotten glory:
⁠   Round the old board we sit and feast again!

                       Chorus:

⁠Yale, old Yale! the same old elms above us!
⁠⁠   Comrades, are ye here, the mates that never fail?
⁠Some have sought the skies, we know their spirits love us;
⁠⁠   Some in far-off places are thinking of old Yale.

Twenty years syne! the shadow eastward passes;
⁠   Faster, every one, the seasons take their flight;
Though our time has come to sing Eheu! fugaces,
⁠   Round the old board we'll not be sad to-night!
Twenty years syne,—when we were spruce and slender,—
⁠   Larger now our waistbands, alack and well-a-day!
Still in our hearts there 's something true and tender;
   ⁠Boys we are to-night, though our heads are turning gray.

                 Chorus: Yale, old Yale, etc.

Round the old board, with talk and song and laughter,
   ⁠Each unto each shall gossip of his lot;
Here at Life's noon we look before and after;
⁠   Glad let us be, then, nor sigh for what is not.
Peace to the Dead! the spoiler has bereft us;
⁠   Dear are their names when the red wine is poured!
Drain we the cup to every comrade left us,
⁠   Near ones and far ones, round the old board.

                       Chorus:

⁠Yale, old Yale! the same old elms above us!
   ⁠⁠Comrades, are ye here, the mates that never fail?
⁠Some have sought the skies, we know their spirits love us;
⁠⁠   Some in far-off places are thinking of old Yale.