Fads and fancies

Little Johnnie Betcherman—
Oh, what a funny boy,
Sometimes bold and forward,
Sometimes shy and coy.
At school poor little Johnnie
Didn't like the other lads—
They didn't like him either,
Nor understand his fads.

Little Johnnie Betcherman:
He and I are chums,
My old heart goes a-beating
Every time he comes
In his choir-boy's surplice
Or in his scouting rig—
For other boys than Johnnie
I don't care a fig!

⋜ 20 March 1939

NOTES

[Written as a spoof for John Betjeman; they shared a longstanding joke from their acquaintance in the 1930s at the expense of the poems of the Reverend EE Bradford: see Charles Thomas' note under poem 'Homer'. Eds]