Social Commentaries
Gog and Magog
From The Comic Poems of Thomas Hood
MAGOG.
WHY, Gog, I say, it's after One,
And yet no dinner carved;
Shall we endure this sort of fun,
And stand here to be starved?
GOG.
I really think our City Lords
Must be a shabby set;
I've stood here since King Charles's time,
And had no dinner yet!
MAGOG.
I vow I can no longer stay;
I say, are we to dine to-day?
GOG.
My hunger would provoke a saint,
I've waited till I'm sick and faint;
I'll tell you what, they'll starve us both,
I'll tell you what, they'll stop our growth.
MAGOG.
I wish I had a round of beef
My hungry tooth to charm;
I've wind enough in my inside
To play the Hundredth Psalm.
GOG.
And yet they feast beneath our eyes
Without the least remorse;
This very week I saw the Mayor
A feeding like a horse!
MAGOG.
Such loads of fish, and flesh, and fowl,
To think upon it makes me growl!
GOG.
I wonder where the fools were taught,
That they should keep a giant short!
They'll stop our growth, they'll stop our growth;
They'll starve us both, they'll starve us both!
MAGOG.
They said, a hundred years ago,
That we should dine at One;
Why, Gog, I say, our meat by this
Is rather over-done.
GOG.
I do not want it done at all,
So hungry is my maw,
Give me an Alderman in chains,
And I will eat him raw!
MAGOG.
Of starving weavers they discuss,
And yet they never think of us.
I say, are we to dine to-day;
Are we to dine to-day?
GOG.
Oh dear, the pang it is to feel
So mealy-mouthed without a meal!
MAGOG.
I'll tell you what, they'll stop our growth!
GOG.
I'll tell you what, they'll starve us both!
BOTH.
They'll stop our growth, they'll starve us both!
Cite this poem
MLA
Hood, Thomas. “Gog and Magog.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/hood/43/.
Chicago
Hood, Thomas. “Gog and Magog.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/hood/43/.
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