William Schwenck Gilbert Poems

Oh, that my soul its gods could see
As years ago they seemed to me
When first I painted them;
Invested with the circumstance
...

The BALLYSHANNON foundered off the coast of Cariboo,
And down in fathoms many went the captain and the crew;
Down went the owners - greedy men whom hope of gain allured:
Oh, dry the starting tear, for they were heavily insured.
...

When you're lying awake with a dismal headache, and repose is
taboo'd by anxiety,
I conceive you may use any language you choose to indulge in
without impropriety;
...

[HE.] I know a youth who loves a little maid -
(Hey, but his face is a sight for to see!)
Silent is he, for he's modest and afraid -
(Hey, but he's timid as a youth can be!)
...

Haunted? Ay, in a social way
By a body of ghosts in dread array;
But no conventional spectres they -
Appalling, grim, and tricky:
...

On all Arcadia's sunny plain,
On all Arcadia's hill,
None were so blithe as BILL and JANE,
So blithe as JANE and BILL.
...

Oh, big was the bosom of brave ALUM BEY,
And also the region that under it lay,
In safety and peril remarkably cool,
And he dwelt on the banks of the river Stamboul.
...

When I first put this uniform on,
I said, as I looked in the glass,
"It's one to a million
That any civilian
...

Oh, foolish fay,
Think you because
Man's brave array
My bosom thaws
...

Were I thy bride,
Then the whole world beside
Were not too wide
To hold my wealth of love -
...