Classic and Contemporary Poetry
ANY OTHER TIME, by ANDREW BARTON PATERSON Poet's Biography First Line: All of us play our very best game Last Line: Any other time! Alternate Author Name(s): Paterson, 'banjo' Subject(s): Drinks & Drinking; Lies; Sea; Wine; Ocean | ||||||||
All of us play our very best game -- Any other time. Golf or billiards, it's all the same -- Any other time. Lose a match and you always say, 'Just my luck! I was "off" today! I could have beaten him quite half-way -- Any other time!' After a fiver you ought to go -- Any other time. Every man that you ask says 'Oh, Any other time. Lend you a fiver? I'd lend you two, But I'm overdrawn and my bills are due, Wish you'd ask me -- now, mind you do -- Any other time!' Fellows will ask you out to dine -- Any other time. 'Not tonight for we're twenty-nine -- Any other time. Not tomorrow, for cook's on strike; Not next day, I'll be out on the bike; Just drop in whenever you like Any other time!' Seasick passengers like the sea -- Any other time. 'Something . . . I ate . . . disagreed . . . with . . . me! Any other time. Ocean-travelling is . . . simply bliss, Must be my . . . liver . . . has gone amiss . . . Why, I would . . . laugh . . . at a sea . . . like this -- Any other time!' Most of us mean to be better men -- Any other time: Regular upright characters then -- Any other time. Yet somehow as the years go by Still we gamble and drink and lie, When it comes to the last we'll want to die -- Any other time! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HALL OF OCEAN LIFE by JOHN HOLLANDER JULY FOURTH BY THE OCEAN by ROBINSON JEFFERS BOATS IN A FOG by ROBINSON JEFFERS CONTINENT'S END by ROBINSON JEFFERS THE FIGUREHEAD by LEONIE ADAMS A BALLAD OF DUCKS by ANDREW BARTON PATERSON |
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