At Viscount Nelson-s lavish funeral,
While the mob milled and yelled about St Paul-s,
A General chatted with an Admiral:
-One of your colleagues, Sir, remarked today
That Nelson-s exit, though to be lamented,
Falls not inopportunely, in it-s wayâ?
-He was a thorn in our flesh-, came the reply-
-The mot bird-witted, unaccountable,
Odd little runt that ever I did spyâ?.
-One arm, one peeper, vain as Pretty Poll,
A meddler too, in foreign politics
And gave his heart in pawn to a plain moll.
-He would dare lecture us Sea Lords, and then
Would treat his ratings as though men of honour
And play leap-frog with his midshipmen!
We tried to box him down, but up he popped,
And when he banged Napoleon on the Nile
Became too much the hero to be dropped.
-You-ve heard that Copenhagen -blind eye- story?
We-d tied him to Nurse Parker-s apron- strings-
By G-d, he snipped them through and snatched the glory!â?
-Yetâ?, cried the General, -sic-and-twenty sail
Captured or sunk by him off Trafalgar-
That writes a handsome finis to the taleâ?
-Handsome enough. The seas are England-s now.
That fellow-s foibles need no longer plague us
He died most creditably, I-ll allow.â?
-And Sir, the secret of his victories?â?
-By his unServicelike, familiar ways, Sir,
He made the whole Fleet love him, damn his eyes!â?
1805
Robert Graves
(1)
Poem topics: I love you, frog, funeral, heart, hero, sea, today, bird, play, plain, nurse, story, pretty, blind, secret, love, I miss you, handsome, Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
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