WeRead Powered by ReaderPub
The Works of Thomas Hood; Vol. 02 (of 11) / Comic and Serious, in Prose and Verse, With All the Original Illustrations cover

The Works of Thomas Hood; Vol. 02 (of 11) / Comic and Serious, in Prose and Verse, With All the Original Illustrations

Chapter 12: LINES TO A LADY ON HER DEPARTURE FOR INDIA.
By Thomas Hood
Open in WeRead

Explore more books like this:

British LiteratureEssays, Letters & SpeechesHumourPoetry

About This Book

This collection gathers comic and serious shorter pieces in verse and prose, ranging from playful nautical ballads and satirical sketches to reflective sonnets and melancholy vignettes. The contents alternate burlesque humour and domestic observation, presenting character portraits, fables, reminiscences, odes, and occasional social or political barbs. Recurring motifs include seaside life and maritime mishaps, everyday urban scenes, human foibles, and compassionate notices of poverty and infirmity. The tone shifts between witty wordplay and tender pathos, and the sequence mixes lyrical experiments, mock‑heroic pieces, and short prose narratives that foreground irony, linguistic invention, and moral observation.

LINES
TO A LADY ON HER DEPARTURE FOR INDIA.

Go where the waves run rather Holborn-hilly,
And tempests make a soda-water sea,
Almost as rough as our rough Piccadilly,
And think of me!
Go where the mild Madeira ripens her juice,—
A wine more praised that it deserves to be:
Go pass the Cape, just capable of ver-juice,
And think of me!

KETCHING ITS PREY.

Go where the Tiger in the darkness prowleth
Making a midnight meal of he and she;
Go where the Lion in his hunger howleth,
And think of me!
Go where the serpent dangerously coileth,
Or lies along at full length like a tree,
Go where the Suttee in her own soot broileth,
And think of me!
Go where with human notes the Parrot dealeth
In mono-polly-logue with tongue as free,
And like a woman, all she can revealeth,
And think of me!
Go to the land of muslin and nankeening,
And parasols of straw where hats should be,
Go to the land of slaves and palankeening,
And think of me!
Go to the land of Jungles and of vast hills,
And tall bamboos—may none bamboozle thee!
Go gaze upon their Elephants and Castles,
And think of me!
Go where a cook must always be a currier,
And parch the pepper’d palate like a pea,
Go where the fierce musquito is a worrier,
And think of me!

“A SOW WESTER OFF THE CAPE:—PIGS IN THE TROUGH OF THE SEA.”

Go where the maiden on a marriage plan goes,
Consign’d for wedlock to Calcutta’s quay,
Where woman goes for mart, the same as mangoes,
And think of me!
Go where the sun is very hot and fervent,
Go to the land of pagod and rupee,
Where every black will be your slave and servant,
And think of me!