Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, PLAINT OF A YOUNG LAWYER, by HARRY RANDOLPH BLYTHE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

PLAINT OF A YOUNG LAWYER, by                    
First Line: The rain runs rivers down the streets, the fog is on the / sea
Last Line: A youth-renewal fountain.
Subject(s): Dartmouth College; Retrospection; Youth


THE rain runs rivers down the streets, the fog is on the sea,
It surely is a rotten day to earn a lawyer's fee;
I'm sick of petty broils and courts and O! I wish I were
A care-free college lad again in dear old Hanover.

For Hanover is always gay
Though rain and snow come down;
There's always twenty lads to play
A game in that old town;
There's always some inviting den
With good fresh "dope" to hear; —
I wish I were a lad again
In Hanover so dear.

I've got a spell of blues to-day, I'm gripped by slavish fears,
I'd give away my pot of gold to go back seven years;
I want to see the boys once more, my comrades of the Green,
I'd like to throw the chips again in Richardson Sixteen.

For study never weighs you down,
You never groan with knowledge,
And care lives not in that old town
Which shelters Dartmouth College;
There are some good, sweet pipes to smoke
And oftentimes a "drappy";
It matters not if you are broke,
You cannot help be happy.

But all the lads I used to know have long ago departed,
I should not find them in their rooms, I'd come back heavy-hearted;
And so I can but sit and dream and wish that some kind fairy
Would flash me back to Hanover with all my comrades merry.

For Hanover would cure the ills
That on my soul are thronging,
The sight of those New Hampshire hills
Would still my restless longing;
Youth never pauses in its sweep,
But past old 'Scutney's mountain
I know a place where good men keep
A youth-renewal fountain.





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