And as the rank half-volley
Its due quietus gets,
The bird begins to carol
A greeting to the Nets:
Amazed at noisy kissing
Of ball and wooden blade,
In rivalry he whistles
A ballad unafraid.

Right jocund is the music
That, poured in lovely jets,
Accompanies superbly
The heroes in the Nets;
And sweet the startled pauses
Amid the royal song
That come when shout together
The drive-delighted throng.

The greatness of the uproar
Benumbs him, and he lets
His pulsing bosom ponder
The tumult in the Nets;
But soon afresh, while warbling
His comment on the game,
He puts all human songsters--
Quite easily!--to shame.

Thou Herrick in the lilac,
The damp of evening wets
Upon our shoes the pipeclay,