A fascinating collection of humorous political verses, written by an British MP whose anti-imperialist sentiments is very well-conveyed through these easy-to-read poems, accompanied by fun cartoons. Here are three poems from the collection:
The Image of the Buddha
(When the English left Lhassa an old monk – affected to tears- presented Colonel Younghusband with a golden image of Buddha)
With tears in his eyes
The old monk cries,
“Farewell, my most Christian brudda;
But, ere you depart,
Accept from my heart
This beautiful Image of Buddha.
“You have worried our land
With your famed ‘Mission’ Band,
And you’ve spilt a good deal of our blood, ah!
But though we must sever,
Remember for ever,
To cherish this Image of Buddha.”
So now with one voice,
Let us sing and rejoic
With delight at this gift from our brudda;
As the statue’s of gold,
Sure it needn’t be told
Henceforth we shall all worship Buddha.
The Brewer’s Power
Who to the heathen far away
Send Christian men to preach and pray,
And bring them to a brighter day?
My Brewer.
Who, when aloud the poor have cried,
And poverty is raging wide,
Has means of charity supplied?
My Brewer.
Who fills his pockets with the sale
Of porter, beer, and generous ale,
Which crowd the workhouse and the gaol?
My Brewer
Who fills our slums with waifs and strays?
Who havoc with our nation plays,
And brings disgrace on all our ways?
My Brewer.
Who is it bosses all the show,
As through the curious world we go,
And dominates both high and low?
My Brewer.
About the author (from Wikipedia):
Sir Wilfrid Lawson, 2nd Baronet (4 September 1829 – 1 July 1906) was an English temperance campaigner and radical, anti-imperialist Liberal Party politician who sat in the House of Commons variously between 1859 and 1906. He was recognised as the leading humourist in the House of Commons.