Poem by William Schwenck Gilbert

Poetry Everywhere

What time the poet hath hymned
The writhing maid, lithe-limbed,
Quivering on amaranthine asphodel,
How can he paint her woes,
Knowing, as well he knows,
That all can be set right with calomel?

When from the poet's plinth
The amorous colocynth
Yearns for the aloe, faint with rapturous thrills,
How can he hymn their throes
Knowing, as well he knows,
That they are only uncompounded pills?

Is it, and can it be,
Nature hath this decree,
Nothing poetic in the world shall dwell?
Or that in all her works
Something poetic lurks,
Even in colocynth and calomel? 

1. The Bab Ballads. The Periwinkle Girl
2. The Bab Ballads. Disillusioned
3. The Bab Ballads. The Folly of Brown
4. The Bab Ballads. A Discontented Sugar Broker
5. The Bab Ballads. General John

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