Dear old Mother Shipton lived a-many years ago,
Her prophesies were wonderful, as everyone must know,
It was her only hobby, and by some 'twas thought a crime,
She worked all day upon the job, and put in overtime.
Her powers were quite remarkable, they really were first class,
And of the things she prophesied a number came to pass,
But though into the future she intently used to gaze,
She didn't see a lot of things to come in later days.
She didn't know we'd keep on living all through monkey glands,
She didn't know that England would be free from German Bands,
She hadn't got the power to see explorers at the Pole,
Or guess that half our populace would live upon the dole;
'Twas hidden from her knowledge that in aeroplanes we'd fly.
She'd no idea that ladies' frocks would ever be so high,
I doubt if she'd a notion that they'd take to smoking fags,
Or that the fellows in the street would swank in Oxford bags
The advent of the telephone was quite ignored by her,
And even to the Fox–trot rage she didn't once refer,
She missed a lot of chances, it is useless to deny,
She quite forgot to tell us of the Yankees going dry;
The passing of the sovereign, the birth of one pound notes
She seemed to know no more about than women having votes,
Arid all this wireless business, which we have seen and heard,
I don't think she foresaw at all, she didn't say a word.
She hadn't got an inkling of the cinema at all,
She didn't know that prize fights would be held at Albert Hall,
She didn't seem to realize that she'd acquire such fame
That a hostelry in London would be honoured with her name*
So, you Visitors to Harrogate and neighbourhood,
When you've read these lines no doubt you will agree
Though Mother Shipton saw into the future quite a lot,
And many things to happen she undoubtedly could spot
And prophesied so much that a celebrity she got,
There were lots of little things she couldn't see.
* The "Mother Shipton," Camden Town.
