The Parson At The Hockey Match Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCCCDDEEFFGG HHIIJJKKLLFFJJJJFF MMJJNNOOPPJJQQJJRRST UUVVJJWWJJJJFF XXKK YY ZZJJA2A2B2 B2ZZFFEEXXLC2JJJJ D2D2MMJJ JJFFE2E2 JJJJF2F2| It's very disagreeable to sit here in the cold | A |
| And a sinful waste of time ah well it's too late now to scold | A |
| I'll think about my sermon and my prayers for Sunday next | B |
| And the young folks may be happy let me see what was my text | B |
| But what a throng of people an immortal soul in each | C |
| With such an audience this would be a splendid place to preach | C |
| I'd have the pulpit half way down what ice without a smirch | C |
| Here are the men I wonder if they ever go to church | C |
| The teams Ah yes the forwards point and cover point and goal | D |
| Thank you my dear I understand is that a lump of coal | D |
| Rubber Ah yes The puck just so One's holding it I see | E |
| That fellow with his clothes all on ah that's the referee | E |
| What was he whistling for his dog Why they've begun to play | F |
| Well well that's rough I really think we're doing wrong to stay | F |
| It's sickening deafening dear I wish this uproar could be stilled | G |
| I do sincerely trust there'll not be anybody killed | G |
| - | |
| It's a wondrous exhibition of alertness speed and strength | H |
| I suppose there's not much danger there's a fellow at full length | H |
| He's up again that's plucky Well the little lad has pluck | I |
| And now he's master of the ice possessor of the puck | I |
| He dodges two opponents but collides with one at last | J |
| A Philistine Goliath David baffles him and fast | J |
| Darts onward o'er the whitening sheet while from each crowded row | K |
| The crazed spectators cheer him on Look has he lost it No | K |
| He's clear again Played played my boy I'd like to see him score | L |
| I'll have no voice for Sunday if I shout like this much more | L |
| But there his ruthless enemies o'erwhelm him in a shoal | F |
| Well played you hero safely passed Now for a shot on goal | F |
| Shoot shoot you duffer shoot you goose you ass you great galoot | J |
| You addle pated idiot you nincompoop you shoot | J |
| You've lost it Never mind well tried that other dash was grand | J |
| Why do they stop Off side you say I don't quite understand | J |
| That's puzzling I suppose it's right I wish they'd not delay | F |
| This is a most provoking interruption to the play | F |
| - | |
| Cold Nothing of the sort I was I'm heated with the game | M |
| I'm really enjoying it indeed I'm glad I came | M |
| I'd like to see both ends at once I can't from where we sit | J |
| They've scored one yonder What's the row A player has been hit | J |
| Such things are bound to happen in a rapid game like this | N |
| They'll soon resume the play my dear there's nothing much amiss | N |
| Some trifling accident received in a rough body check | O |
| A shoulder dislocated or a fracture of the neck | O |
| Oh no it's nothing serious the game begins again | P |
| They're here a writhing struggling mass of half a dozen men | P |
| Battling and groaning with the strife and breathing hard and fast | J |
| Swayed back and forth and stooping low like elms before the blast | J |
| Changing their places like a fleet of vessels tempest driven | Q |
| That blindly meet within the waves and part with timbers riven | Q |
| Waving their sticks with frantic zeal But isn't this a sight | J |
| My goodness I could sit and watch a game like this all night | J |
| There dirty trousers there's your chance Muffed it Why weren't you quick | R |
| This is a sight to make the sad rejoice to heal the sick | R |
| To rouse the drones and give them life to last them half a year | S |
| Hit him again I wish I had my congregation here | T |
| - | |
| My stars and this is hockey Hockey's the king of sports | U |
| This is the thing to come to when you're feeling out of sorts | U |
| This is the greatest holiday I've had for many weeks | V |
| This helps one to appreciate the feeling of the Greeks | V |
| I understand my Homer now O Hercules behold | J |
| Yon Trojan giant he that's cast in an Olympian mould | J |
| Ye gods he more than doubled up that other stalwart cove | W |
| Here comes swift footed Mercury the messenger of Jove | W |
| Adown the blue outstripping all he speeds Oh what a spurt | J |
| His shoulders have no wings but see he has them on his shirt | J |
| He's broken through the forward line baffled the cover point | J |
| Thrown down the other man and knocked their game all out of joint | J |
| And now he rushes on the goal this makes the senses reel | F |
| Goal goal hurrah hurrah well done men of the winged wheel | F |
| - | |
| At last how soon the game is done I've scarcely drawn a breath | X |
| This getting out is difficult I'm almost crushed to death | X |
| The cars are packed how we'll get home I'm sure I do not know | K |
| Here's room for you get up my dears I'll walk away you go | K |
| - | |
| My sermon's gone but as I walk I cannot help but think | Y |
| That after all perhaps I've found a sermon in the rink | Y |
| - | |
| This world is an arena with a slippery sheet of ice | Z |
| And all have skates and hockey sticks and enter without price | Z |
| And seats are round for those who rest the idle and the old | J |
| But those who are not in the game are apt to find it cold | J |
| Some play defence some forward with terrific speed and stress | A2 |
| The puck keeps flying 'twixt the goals of failure and success | A2 |
| Now up now down across and back here there and everywhere | B2 |
| - | |
| The grit of skates the crack of sticks the shouting fill the air | B2 |
| Some slip and fall a thousand times and spring up in a trice | Z |
| Some go to pieces on their feet and have to leave the ice | Z |
| Some play offside kick tackle trip try every kind of foul | F |
| Some players are forever cheered some only get a howl | F |
| We seldom hear the whistle of the watchful Referee | E |
| Who mostly lets the game go on as if He didn't see | E |
| No gong rings out half time to let the players get their breath | X |
| To most full time comes only with the solemn stroke of death | X |
| The winners are not always those who make the biggest score | L |
| The vanquished oft are victors when the stubborn game is o'er | C2 |
| For many things are added to make up the grand amount | J |
| And everything is taken at the last into account | J |
| The sort of sticks we played with and the way our feet were shod | J |
| For the trophy is Salvation and the Referee is God | J |
| - | |
| God prosper our Canadian sports and keep them clean and pure | D2 |
| Whole hearted manly generous and let them long endure | D2 |
| Long live each honest winter sport each good Canadian game | M |
| To train the youth in lusty health and iron strength of frame | M |
| To make them noble vigorous straightforward ardent bold | J |
| Nearer a perfect standard than the grandest knights of old | J |
| - | |
| Keep in the path of rectitude the young throughout the land | J |
| And guide them ever on their way by thine unerring hand | J |
| Along the slippery path of life in safety toward the goal | F |
| And keep their bodies holy as the temples of the soul | F |
| For the river of the future from the present's fountain runs | E2 |
| And a nation's hope is founded on the virtue of her sons | E2 |
| - | |
| The glory of a man is strength Thy wisdom hath declared | J |
| Let strength increase and strength of frame with strength of will be paired | J |
| And let these twain go hand in hand with strength of heart and mind | J |
| And strength of character present all forms of strength combined | J |
| Oh make out strength the strength of men to perfect stature grown | F2 |
| And use it for thine ends and turn man's glory to thine own | F2 |
W. M. Mackeracher
(1)
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The Parson At The Hockey Match is a poem by W. M. Mackeracher. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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