POEMS By HUGH CHESTERMAN
Reading edition
PROUD SIR PIM
Sir Pim was proud, uncommon proud;
His friends and relatives allowed
That Proud Sir Pim displayed more pride
Than any other knight beside.
And nought there was could dull or dim
Or tarnish
The splendour of this proud Sir Pim:
His waist was slim, his harness trim,
His helmet shone from tip to brim
Like varnish.
And when he walked or rode abroad
The passers-by were overawed
And little boys and girls would stammer
(With slight regard for English grammar),
“That’s him—
That’s Proud Sir Pim!”
101
KNOWLEDGE
I remember ...
Twenty shillings in a pound,
Seven days in every week,
And once a year the earth goes round
The staring sun, and Chesapeake
Is not a mountain but a bay
Whereto the Susquehanna flows,
And Potomac, and goodness knows
What other streams in U. S. A.!
And twenty quires make a ream,
And grouse, in plural, is not “grice,”
And Watt revealed the use of steam,
And John of Gaunt was married twice,
Canute and Charlemagne were kings,
And Martinmas is mid-November.
· · · · ·
But there are lots and lots of things
I can’t remember.
102
Knowledge.
103