Commanders of the Faithful
William Makepeace Thackeray

The Pope he is a happy man,
His Palace is the Vatican,
And there he sits and drains his can:
The Pope he is a happy man.
I often say when I'm at home,
I'd like to be the Pope of Rome.

And then there's Sultan Saladin,
That Turkish Soldan full of sin;
He has a hundred wives at least,
By which his pleasure is increased:
I've often wished, I hope no sin,
That I were Sultan Saladin.

But no, the Pope no wife may choose,
And so I would not wear his shoes;
No wine may drink the proud Paynim,
And so I'd rather not be him:
My wife, my wine, I love I hope,
And would be neither Turk nor Pope.

from Rebecca and Rowena, A Romance Upon Romance


comments? corrections? criticism?
email Gregory J. Rosmaita


return to Terence, This is Stupid Stuff
return to Read 'Em and Speak's Front Page
return to the top of this page


W3C Validated XHTML 1.0!       Keep the Web Accessible!       Hand-Constructed Using W3C Validated Cascading Style Sheets


Best Viewed With ANY Damn Browser!  created as an HTML 3.2 document on June 14, 1997
converted to HTML4 & CSS2 on April 5, 1999
converted to XHTML 1.0 on April 28, 2001