King Whiskey



King Whishey's father down in Hell,
  He rubbed his hands with glee,
'My son on earth is doing well,
  Extremely well,' said he;
'Pile up the logs upon the blaze
  And let the furnace roar,
Another batch of Whiskey's slaves
  Is hammering at the door.'

The flames shot up a brilliant red,
  The grid was white with heat,
A basting pot of boiling lead
  Was placed on every seat.
'Ha, ha,' said Satan, 'this is neat;
  We have no cause to fear
That they'll complain they did not meet
  A warm reception here.'

King Whiskey sat upon his throne,
  His courtiers standing round,
All meek, subservient in tone,
  They bowed them to the ground.
In tribute then they handed up
  Their stores of golden wealth,
And from the reeking poison cup
  They drank King Whiskey's health!

And out beyond the palace gates
  The wives and mothers stand,
And, breadless, loudly curse the fates
  That whiskey rules the land.
The courtiers dimly hear the cry,
  But Whiskey dulls their ears,
'Fill up, let revelry run high,
  We'll drown these childish fears!'

And men there are in Whiskey's land
  Complaining times are bad
And money getting scarcer and
  But little to be had;
And yet however bad is trade
  And things however flat,
King Whiskey's tribute must be paid,
  They can't go short of that!

King Whiskey's courtiers soon grow old,
  And tribute's falling short,
The strength is gone, the blood is cold
  The once clear mind distraught!
And demons, imps, and grinning apes.
  And glaring reptiles yell,
And loathsome forms and fearsome shapes
  All point the road to Hell!

But Whiskey's court is bright and gay.
  Nor do the ranks grow thin,
For as the old are borne away
  The younger ones come in.
King Whiskey's father down in Hell,
  He rubs his hands with glee,
'My son on earth is doing well,
  Extremely well,' says he.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:39 min read
147

Quick analysis:

Scheme abAbxcxc dedeexex fgfghihi jkjklmlm knxnopop qxqxrara ststabAb
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,768
Words 324
Stanzas 7
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8

William Thomas Goodge

William Thomas Goodge (28 September 1862 – 28 November 1909) was an English writer and journalist, who arrived in Australia in 1882, after jumping ship in Sydney. He worked in various jobs in New South Wales, including as a coal-miner, until he was engaged to write for "The Tribune" in North Sydney, a small weekly associated with the "Daily Telegraph". From there he was chosen by Harry Newman (Member of Parliament and newspaper proprietor) to edit "The Leader" newspaper in Orange, NSW. Goodge remained in Orange, becoming part-owner of "The Leader" at some point, until in the early 1900s he returned to Sydney and began writing for that city's newspapers, especially "The Sunday Times". Goodge was first married on 21 January 1892. His wife died 3 January 1895 of typhoid, leaving behind two children. Sometime later he remarried and had another child. Goodge died on 28 November 1909 in North Sydney. During his writing career, Goodge wrote mainly light-verse poems and short stories. Although he did have one novel, The Fortunes of Fenchurch, serialised in the pages of The Sunday Times, the book was never published separately. His best known works were "The Great Australian Adjective", and "The Oozlum Bird". Norman Lindsay, who illustrated the reprint volume of Goodge's only poetry collection, considered the poet better than C. J. Dennis. "Goodge, with his Hits! Skits! and Jingles!, is a much better light-verse writer than Dennis, and his book should be reprinted."  more…

All William Thomas Goodge poems | William Thomas Goodge Books

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