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Poetry

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Date:
28 July 2006
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Wellington’s first Parliament Buildings were made of wood … which soon rotted. A member of Parliament once called attention to this by waving some rotten wood in the debating chamber.
  • Silver Pen (pen name of Mrs Corlett), Parliamentary Skits and Sketches, 1872. Read by Rob Greenfield.
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The alarm (selected verses)

 

They say, and it is quite believed by everyone in town,

The Lords are shaking in their shoes,

The House is tumbling down!

 

A Farmer, with a frighten’d face, amid the council stood,

And from his pocket forth he drew a piece of rotten wood,

‘My Lords and gentlemen’, he said, ‘I’ll bet you half-a-crown,

Before the session’s well begun,

The House will tumble down!’

 

‘Behold I have within my hand a small piece of the roof,

‘Tis like a bit of honeycomb, and far from waterproof;

Soft are our heads, as well you know, soft as the Speaker’s gown

And what think ye will be our fates,

An the House tumble down!’