Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE BATTUE OF BERLIN, by HARRY GRAHAM


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THE BATTUE OF BERLIN, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: It was a winter's morning / the kaiser's sport was done
Last Line: That 'twas a famous morning's sport!
Alternate Author Name(s): Streamer, Col. D.
Subject(s): Berlin, Germany; Southey, Robert (1774-1843); War


It was a winter's morning,
The Kaiser's sport was done;
From far and near the driven deer
Had faced the Royal 'gun',
And all around, in grim array,
Five hundred rotting corpses lay.

From near and far, to King and Tsar
The startled herds had fled;
And many a stag had swelled the bag,
And many a hind lay dead.
Such things must be and will in short,
After a famous hour of sport!

It was the German Emperor
Who slew five hundred deer;
But what he killed so many for
Is not completely clear.
But all the journalists report
That 'twas a famous morning's sport.

From left and right, in furious flight,
The stags to slaughter came;
Each beast, deceased, by death increased
This holocaust of game.
And, after all (you may retort),
It was a famous morning's sport.

Let sportsmen raise their hymns of praise
To those who made such bags,
Who in an hour evinced the pow'r
To slay five hundred stags,
While I repeat (how dare you snort?)
That 'twas a famous morning's sport!





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