Page 40 - 1966

Thirty
TREMENDOUS
POEM OF SOLITUDE AND LAMENT
All have gone and left me deserted
Then out spoke one called Sammy Dew, A cricketer of renown.
" I will stand at your right hand And keep the slips with you." And out spoke big strong Herman, A marvellous cricketer too.
" I will abide on your left side And keep the slips with you."
Meanwhile, two Aussie batsmen, As con dent as could be,
Came strolling o'er the shimmering grass:
They looked two batsmen of great class And were spotless like the three.
The three stood calm and silent
And looked upon the foes.
The batsmen looked around them:
The eld was on its toes.
Then forth the ball came ying
Before the silent eld.
The elders leaped-one and all, Tremendous lifted high the ball:
" Howzat?" he cried with a raucous call.
Not one sound of laughter
Was heard among the foes.
A wild and wrathful shouting
From the Aussie side arose.
Eleven men at the entrance,
Returned by dauntless play;
And after that no man came forth­
With memories and thoughts of boyhood and youth, Of happiness and sadcomings,
Of want, desire, and need.
Wickedness in the blackest of sins
Which leave painful stains within me.
Knowledge of the purity
Which looms majestically about
And is so easy to be grasped and taken in. Whites which have turned to grey
And nally to the blackest of blacks.
Now I am left to self-castigation
And to pay for these demerits
Until the day of eternal re has ended. -B.A.A., 5A
Then out spoke brave Tremendous, The Captain of the Team:
·· To every man upon this eld Fame cometh to the keen.
And how can we play better Than by facing fearful odds For the ashes of our country And the Test selectors' rods.
Send down a bumper, please, Sir Fred, With all the speed ye may.
You with Noel to help you bowl
Will make the foe misplay.
Now from this pitch y catches, Which may well be caught by three. Who will stand at either hand
To keep the slips with me?··
Tremendous had won the day.
-N. P., 3B1