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Re: Captain Campbell's Poetry
Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2010 2:56 pm
by Penny Tray
TO NEIL McLEAN OF IONA
(With acknowledgement to Sir Harold Boulton's lovely lyric, "The Fionphort Ferry.")
Oh! Neil McLean, it gives us pain to see you go ashore,
It brings a tear to leave you here, in tropic Singapore.
But tho' you're ill we're thankful still, no plague or beri-beri
Will keep your heart and thoughts apart from shades of Fionphort ferry.
When days are dull the Sound of Mull will sweep before your eyes,
And dreams will cheer the twilight drear with fair West Highland skies,
And then you'll smile to see the isle that made the angels merry,
As memories track goes flying back across the Fionphort ferry.
From Callao to Chinwangtao we've sailed the seas together,
And yarns we've spun 'neath every sun, of mountain, glen, and heather.
Misfortune swift will make us drift from Nome to Pondicherry,
For, tempest tossed, in you we've lost our link with Fionphort ferry.
We wish you wealth, recovered health, and happiness alway,
A quick return to see the churn of foam in Oban Bay.
We'll all aspire when we retire from steamboat, sail or wherry,
To meet again with Neil McLean beside the Fionphort ferry.
Re: Captain Campbell's Poetry
Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2010 12:03 pm
by Penny Tray
ANNE
I've danced down in Australia where the kukuburra calls,
With the Southern Cross a-dangling like a pendant in the dusk,
In Ceylon I've trod to music like enchanted waterfalls
That whispered on a zephyr charged with cinnamon and musk.
I've danced in Alicante, to the swaying songs of Spain,
And to swift stacatto strumming in the Isles around Japan,
But now I've heard a melody with "heaven" for refrain,
Last night I waltzed in Paradise with heart-enthralling Anne.
Oh! the charming senoritas 'neath the bright Italian sky
Or entrancing Burmese maidens east-away in Arracan,
Can set the knives a-flashing with a glitter of the eye,
But the coldest heart takes fire at a look from lovely Anne.
I have wandered east of Singapore and west of Paraguay;
Have seen the belles of Venice, and the blondes of Astrakan,
But the portraits of my memory are faded quite away,
Obscured behind a masterpiece, a silhouette of Anne.
Re: Captain Campbell's Poetry
Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2010 6:56 pm
by morag
Aaaah...hand to forehead, swoon...
Re: Captain Campbell's Poetry
Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2010 7:40 pm
by Meg
morag wrote:Aaaah...hand to forehead, swoon...
Me tae Morag - swoon swoon swoon.
Isn't this man just a romantic.
Meg
Re: Captain Campbell's Poetry
Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2010 8:28 pm
by morag
I thought 'two ships' had done me in, was at a loss for words, but, pant, pant...a small brandy please..
L.P. if you ever have the chance of meeting or communicating with the family again, please pass on my thanks and compliments. How I would have loved to have met this man and listened to his stories!
Meg, next time I'm over, lassies night oot, all invited, Captain Campbell's poetry and a bottle or two of something to calm oor maidenly emotions!
(ah'm no' kiddin')
Re: Captain Campbell's Poetry
Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2010 8:34 pm
by Penny Tray
A romantic with a wicked sense of humour. What a potion. The 'PC' brigade probably would allow the publication of this one today.
TAN-CHEE
(Written at Hankow China)
Me topside Chinese sailo'-man
Flom homeside place Ningpoo,
On Blitish ship name "Calistan,"
Me evelything can do.
Suppose me catchee job at wheel;
Ship makee one stlait line.
Suppose me smuggle no can squeal,
Ship company pay fine.
In watch below me dlinkee some,
But "Tan-Chee" nevah dlunk.
Then catchee one smoke opium,
And dleam in topside bunk.
Byme-by get up an' makee chow
In one piece cully pot,
An' chopstick plenty busy now,
Fo' hungly mouth have got.
But allee time bad joss come quick,
Fo' eight bell go "clink-clink."
Chief Offica shout, "Hi! look slick,
Chop-chop - you goddam Chink!"
Re: Captain Campbell's Poetry
Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2010 8:58 pm
by morag
Thanks, P.T., back to normal (?) now!
Re: Captain Campbell's Poetry
Posted: Wed Mar 24, 2010 6:38 am
by Meg
morag wrote:next time I'm over, lassies night oot, all invited, Captain Campbell's poetry and a bottle or two of something to calm oor maidenly emotions!
(ah'm no' kiddin')
You are on Morag - and ah'm no kiddin either
Meg
Re: Captain Campbell's Poetry
Posted: Wed Mar 24, 2010 11:42 am
by Penny Tray
SMOKY
I had a darned old husky dog,
With fur of silvery blend.
One day he stiffened like a log,
And thus did "Smoky" end.
And as he lay upon the ground
A greybeard caught my hand,
And said, "I like to buy dat hound,
I take heem as he stand."
He didn't stand; but what of that;
Two bob I soon possessed.
He said, "Hes skin vill make von mat,
I bury all de rest."
And since then in a waking dream
I've often thought how snug
That old man's bedroom floor would seem
With smoky for a rug.
But yesterday, to buy a fur
I gave my wife a cheque.
So help me, James! I've just seen her
With Smoky round her neck.
Re: Captain Campbell's Poetry
Posted: Thu Mar 25, 2010 7:55 pm
by Penny Tray
I AM NOT OLD
(He who gives a child a treat, Makes joybells ring in Heaven's street. - John Masefield.)
I am not old; tho' fast my sight is failing,
And life's dim shadows darken down apace.
I am not old, tho' heavy years are trailing
Time's ploughshare thro' the furrows on my face.
I am not old, while little children love me,
And call my stories better far than gold;
I make them laugh, and somewhere up above me,
A voice says, "No! you surely are not old."
Re: Captain Campbell's Poetry
Posted: Fri Mar 26, 2010 12:02 pm
by Penny Tray
LUCKYBAGS
Whit will I dae wae it? I'll let ye see!
Why ask me a question so droll?
There's only ae richt wey tae spend a bawbee,
That's on luckybags up at the "Toll."
I'll intae the coonter as sherp as can be,
As if there wis de'ils on my track;
An' doon for a luckybag plank my bawbee,
An' ask for a ha'penny back.
Some weans spend their siller on terrible trash,
On liquorice stick or cheugh jeans;
Wae sic daft carry-ons I ne'er bother my fash,
It's leevin' faur oot o' yer means.
In ae luckbag there's mair value tae me
Than a toffee pock fu' as ye'll pack'
Baith sweeties an' toys for a single bawbee!
An' forbye a hail ha'penny back!
When I am a man wae ma pooches sae fu',
That ilk penny is burnin' a hole,
I'll spend them the same as I'm dae'n e noo,
On luckybags up at the Toll.
Re: Captain Campbell's Poetry
Posted: Fri Mar 26, 2010 2:51 pm
by morag
aah, lucky bags!(and sherbet dips)