Poem by William Schwenck Gilbert

The Philosophic Pill

I’ve wisdom from the East and from the West,
	That’s subject to no academic rule:
You may find it in the jeering of a jest,
	Or distil it from the folly of a fool.
I can teach you with a quip, if I’ve a mind!
	I can trick you into learning with a laugh;
Oh, winnow all my folly, and you’ll find
	A grain or two of truth among the chaff!

I can set a braggart quailing with a quip,
	The upstart I can wither with a whim;
He may wear a merry laugh upon his lip,
	But his laughter has an echo that is grim.
When they’re offered to the world in merry guise,
	Unpleasant truths are swallowed with a will—
For he who’d make his fellow creatures wise
	Should always gild the philosophic pill!

1. The Bab Ballads. The Folly of Brown
2. The Bab Ballads. The Periwinkle Girl
3. The Bab Ballads. General John
4. The Bab Ballads. Haunted
5. The Bab Ballads. Disillusioned

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