William Schwenck Gilbert Poems

Braid the raven hair,
Weave the supple tress,
Deck the maiden fair
In her loveliness;
...

They intend to send a wire
To the moon;
And they'll set the Thames on fire
Very soon;
...

OH! listen to the tale of little ANNIE PROTHEROE.
She kept a small post-office in the neighbourhood of BOW;
She loved a skilled mechanic, who was famous in his day -
A gentle executioner whose name was GILBERT CLAY.
...

I shipped, d'ye see, in a Revenue sloop,
And, off Cape Finisteere,
A merchantman we see,
A Frenchman, going free,
...

Good children, list, if you're inclined,
And wicked children too -
This pretty ballad is designed
Especially for you.
...

O'er unreclaimed suburban clays
Some years ago were hobblin'
An elderly ghost of easy ways,
And an influential goblin.
...

Rising early in the morning,
We proceed to light the fire,
Then our Majesty adorning
In its work-a-day attire,
...

A clergyman in Berkshire dwelt,
The REVEREND BERNARD POWLES,
And in his church there weekly knelt
At least a hundred souls.
...

If you're anxious for to shine in the high aesthetic line, as a man
of culture rare,
You must get up all the germs of the transcendental terms, and
plant them everywhere.
...

As some day it may happen that a victim must be found,
I've got a little list - I've got a little list
Of social offenders who might well be underground,
And who never would be missed - who never would be missed!
...