So the gray Boatswain of‘ Twenty-nine
Piped to “The Boys” as they crossed the line;
Round the cabin sat thirty guests,
Babes of the nurse with a thousand breasts.
There were the judges, grave and grand,
Flanked by the priests on either hand;
There was the lord of wealth untold,
And the dear good fellow in broadcloth old.
Thirty men, from twenty towns,
Sires and grandsires with silvered crowns,—
Thirty school-boys all in a row,—
Bens and Georges and Bill and Joe.
In thirty goblets the wine was poured,
But threescore gathered around the board,—
For lo! at the side of every chair
A shadow hovered — we all were there!