'Life, like a game of bowls is but an end which to play well this moral verse attend.'

'Life, like a game of bowls is but an end which to play well this moral verse attend.'

Poem from Haleworth Angel 1808.

Tom Sutton

Trinity College Dublin

2012

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Tom Sutton

Reflections

Life Story

Glengormley, Co. Antrim

2010s

Life, like a game of bowls is but an endWhich to play well this moral verse attend.Throw not your bowl too swiftly from you hand,First let its course, by reason's eye be plannedLest it roll useless o'er the verdant plainThis sanguine life be spent in vain.Bowling too short you thus obstruct the greenLife those who loiter on life' public scene.Know well your bias; here's the moral schoolScarce needs a comment on the bowling rule,Play not too straight, in life observe the same,The narrow minded often miss their aim.Nor yet too wide, with caution eye you castUse not extent of green or life to wasteOn bowling short avoid in moral playOh! Never block your neighbour's way.These rules observed a man may play the gameOn this small spot, or through the world with fame.. - poem from Haleworth Angel B.C. 1808

Irish Research Council for Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences (IRCHSS)

Dr Kathleen McTiernan (Trinity College Dublin)

Dr Deirdre O'Donnell (Trinity College Dublin)