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<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=365713" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>Dutchman's Call</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">They had seized the only longboat<br>When the 'Gelderland' veered round, <br>As the flames leapt the topgallant, <br>And then brought the rigging down, <br>There was panic on the foredeck, <br>There was panic at the bridge, <br>When the Royal Charles raked salvoes<br>She began to roll and pitch.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">While the shrapnel from the cannons<br>Shrieked and tore good men apart, <br>There were those not so heroic<br>Who were thinking to desert, <br>They were Dutch from West Terschelling<br>Who had never learnt to shoot, <br>Until the English came to call<br>On Hans, and Jan de Groot.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">They'd left not empty-handed for<br>The cook, Hans Vandeveer<br>Had already made provision <br>For them sailing, free and clear, <br>With a gallon cask of Advocaat, <br>Another one of rum, <br>He called the gunner, Jan de Groot<br>And said - 'Ve vill be gone! '</div><div style="margin:10px 0">They launched the heavy longboat<br>In the mighty, storm-tossed bay<br>While the 'Gelderland' went down<br>With every hand aboard that day, <br>And they set the only sail to take<br>Them home to Terschelling, <br>But Robert Holmes had got there as<br>The storm was lessening.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The fire ships were many, and<br>They spread their flames about, <br>One hundred thirty merchantmen<br>Went down, without a shout, <br>The English sacked the little town<br>The island they called home, <br>While fleeing, they rowed out to sea<br>With nowhere left to roam.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The town they'd always called naar huis<br>Was burning to the ground, <br>They watched the hated Engelsman<br>And said: 'Ve'll do zem down! '<br>They watched their houses burning<br>As they drifted from the shore, <br>And pledged 'Ve'll haf our Dutch ravanche<br>If nuzzing else, I swore! '</div><div style="margin:10px 0">For days they drifted aimlessly<br>Just praying for respite, <br>When on the second evening<br>They saw a warning light.<br>They thought it might be France ahead, <br>The coast, it could be Spain's, <br>The morning saw them rowing up<br>The sluggish River Thames.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The mighty docks and warehouses<br>Were all deserted then, <br>The plague had taken everyone, <br>Or laid them in the ground, <br>'Vair is ze people? ' said de Groot, <br>'Zis silence iss bizar....'<br>Hans Vandeveer just shook his head, <br>And swigged the Advocaat.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">They tied the boat up to a wharf<br>And then set out on foot, <br>They roamed the empty, dirty streets, <br>'Iz not Spain! ' said de Groot; <br>'Iz not Spain - it iz London! ' said<br>Hans Vandeveer, 'Look zat! '<br>For there was stately London bridge, <br>He hid beneath his hat.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'Zo! London... of ze Engelsman, '<br>He took a swig of rum, <br>They both began to chuckle then, <br>Well zen, let uss haf fun! <br>They came upon a house that bore<br>A huge red painted cross, <br>With 'Please have Mercy on us Lord'<br>'Vot sez zat? ' Jan looked lost.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">They neither of them read a word<br>Of English or of Dutch, <br>They'd gone to sea as children, so<br>Their learning wasn't much, <br>They beat upon the wooden door, <br>And heard some cries within, <br>So thinking there was murder there, <br>They kicked the old door in.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Two women and a man were there, <br>A pretty sorry sight, <br>Dead drunk, dishevelled, tangled hair, <br>They looked at them in fright, <br>'Ve come to mak you be all right, '<br>Said Hans, confused and red, <br>He offered them the Advocaat, <br>They gave him gin instead.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'I'm Lady Bubo, ' said the one, <br>With bright red flaming hair, <br>And I am Mrs. Onic, ' laughed<br>The other, who was fair, <br>The man, who lay flat on his back, <br>Then raised his head, and swore, <br>'I'm known as Jack the Rat, my friends, <br>Bubonic is my whore! '</div><div style="margin:10px 0">They laughed and fell about the room<br>Embracing Jan de Groot, <br>Who swigged his rum, Hans Vandeveer<br>Just shrugged, and followed suit, <br>They hadn't had a woman then<br>Since back in Terschelling, <br>But: 'Be my guest, ' said Jack the Rat, <br>There was no second telling.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The revelry went on all night, <br>They drank and fell about, <br>'We want some food, ' said Onic then, <br>The larder's all cleaned out, <br>They finally, by making signs<br>Got Jan to understand, <br>'Ve go and find zum vittals, zen<br>Ve come back ven ve can! '</div><div style="margin:10px 0">They headed up to Pudding Lane, <br>A baker's light shone bright, <br>The smell of new baked bread hung there<br>So tempting in the night, <br>They beat and beat upon the door<br>But no one answered then, <br>So Hans, he clambered up a pipe<br>To find the baker's oven.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The coals spilled out, he seized four loaves, <br>Then turned and ran downstairs, <br>He jumped out through a window, <br>Said: 'Ve'd better mak uz scarce! '<br>They ran the length of Pudding lane<br>Before they turned about, <br>To see the smoke, the roaring flames<br>Burst out the Baker's house.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The rest is history, my friends, <br>The fire spread more and more, <br>And London burned to ashes like<br>Terschelling had before, <br>The Dutchmen found their friends were dead, <br>And they would not get home, <br>For soon they found that tell-tale sign, <br>The swelling in the groin.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">2 September,2008</div><div style="margin:10px 0">(The 342nd Anniversary of the <br>Great Fire of London, on 2 September 1666) .</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=David+Lewis+Paget">David Lewis Paget</a><div class=q>
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<script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=365713" data-title="Dutchman's Call de David Lewis Paget" data-description="They had seized the only longboat
When the 'Gelderland' veered round, 
As the flames leapt the topgallant, 
And then brought the rigging down, 
There was panic on the foredeck, 
There was panic at the bridge, 
When the Royal Charles raked salvoes
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