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Home  »  A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895  »  The Men of Gotham

Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895.

Thomas Love Peacock 1785–1866

The Men of Gotham

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SEAMEN three! what men be ye?

Gotham’s three Wise Men we be.

Whither in your bowl so free?

To rake the moon from out the sea.

The bowl goes trim; the moon doth shine;

And our ballast is old wine:

And your ballast is old wine.

Who art thou, so fast adrift?

I am he they call Old Care.

Here on board we will thee lift.

No: I may not enter there.

Wherefore so? ’T is Jove’s decree—

In a bowl Care may not be:

In a bowl Care may not be.

Fear ye not the waves that roll?

No: in charmed bowl we swim.

What the charm that floats the bowl?

Water may not pass the brim.

The bowl goes trim; the moon doth shine;

And our ballast is old wine:

And your ballast is old wine.