When Sir Beelzebub called for his syllabub in the hotel in Hell Where Proserpine first fell, Blue as the gendarmerie were the waves of the sea, (Rocking and shocking the bar-maid) Nobody comes to give him his rum but the Rim of the sky hippopotamus-glum Enhances the chances to bless with a benison Alfred Lord Tennyson crossing the bar laid With cold vegetation from pale deputations Of temperance workers (all signed in Memoriam) Hoping with glory to trip up the Laureate's feet, (Moving in classical metres)... Like Balaclava, the lava came down from the Roof, and the sea's blue wooden gendarmerie Took them in charge while Beelzebub roared for his rum. ...None of them come!
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Composition:
- Set to music by William Walton (1902 - 1983), "When Sir Beelzebub", from Façade
Text Authorship:
- by Edith Sitwell (1887 - 1964), appears in Façade, first published 1922
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Researcher for this page: Dan Eggleston
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 28
Word count: 115