Ravenous Bill
Oh! a terrible glutton was "Ravenous Bill,"
Mate of the good ship "Whippoorwill;"
And seldom it was he could get his fill;
A fact he oft would mention.
And many a time, when eating his beef,
Would the captain tell him to "take a reef;"
But to such requests he ever was "deaf,"
This being a bone of contention.
He cheated the sailors out of their prog,
Nor left e'en a scrap for the captain's dog:
He was such a gourmand and terrible "hog,"
That he'd" eat you out of your house."
He thought no more of a leg of ham,
A peck of potatoes, and shoulder of lamb,
With all the "fixin's," — wine, jellies, and jam,-
Than a cat would think of a mouse.
At length, on distant Southern sands
The vessel was stranded; and all the hands
Were captured by some of the savage bands
Who lived on that foreign coast.
Poor Bill was taken among the rest,
And became at once a cannibal's guest;
(No pleasant position, it must be confessed,
To wake up some morning already " dressed"
For a native's " fancy roast.")
For want of rations Bill had grown thin,-
Nothing, in fact, but bones and skin;
And his heathen master (as ugly as sin,
To find he'd so badly been " taken in")
Devised a horrible plan.
To wit: a bamboo cage he'd make,
And put in Bill, with a monstrous snake
Called the anaconda, that could easily " take"
Most any "reasonable" man.
[...] Read more
poem by Charles Follen Adams from Yawcob Strauss and Other Poems
Added by Veronica Serbanoiu
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