´óÏó´«Ã½

Explore the ´óÏó´«Ã½
This page has been archived and is no longer updated. Find out more about page archiving.


Accessibility help
Text only
´óÏó´«Ã½ Homepage
´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio
The ArchersRadio 4

Radio 4 Home

Contact Us

Like this page?
Send it to a friend!

Ìý
Latest Synopsis
Listeners
Parodies

Forty Years On
by RosieT

school desksInspired by Ruth's recent 40th birthday, this version of the Harrow School song was contributed to the Fantasy Archers topic of

Forty years on, when afar and asunder
Parted are those who are partying today,
When they look back, and forgetfully wonder,
What was Ruth like in her work every day?
Then, it may be, there will often come o'er them,
Echoes of shrieks like the catch of a song -
Visions of cowsheds shall float then before them,
Echoes of platemeters shall bear them along?

Follow up! Follow up! Follow up
Follow up! Follow up
Till the field ring again and again,
With the tramp of the Hereford cows.
Follow up! Follow up!

Rows and discomfitures, milking and hedges,
Oxford attempted, rejected, not done:
Dave without anger, affair without malice, -
How does it seem to them, forty years on?
Then, will they say, not a feverish minute
Strained the weak heart and the wavering knee,
Never the battle raged hottest, but in it.
Neither the last nor the faintest, was she?

Follow up! etc.

Oh the great days. In the distance enchanted,
Days of fresh plots, in the rain and the sun,
How we rejoiced as we listened, applauded -
Hardly believable, forty years on!
How we discussed them, both this one and that one,
Auguring triumph, or balancing fate,
Loving the ally with the heart of a brother,
Hating the Sam with a playing at hate!
Follow up etc.

Follow up etc.

Forty years on, growing older and older,
Shorter in wind, as in memory long,
Feeble of foot, and rheumatic of shoulder,
What will it help them that once they were strong?
The ´óÏó´«Ã½ gave us stories to mull on,
Plots to enjoy, whether earnest or fun;
Fights for the fearless, and goals for the eager,
Twenty, and thirty, and forty years on!

Follow up etc.



<<Back


About the ´óÏó´«Ã½ | Help | Terms of Use | Privacy & Cookies Policy
Ìý