I had my first rehearsal for The Mikado last night and in honor of that I'm using some lyrics from the show for today's Poetry Friday post.  These are the lyrics to the song when I, as a member of the ladies' stage chorus, first appear.

Comes a train of little ladies From scholastic trammels free, Each a little bit afraid is, Wondering what the world can be!

Is it but a world of trouble — Sadness set to song? Is its beauty but a bubble Bound to break ere long?

Are its palaces and pleasures Fantasies that fade? And the glory of its treasures Shadow of a shade? And the glory of its treasures Shadow of a shade? Shadow of a shade?

Schoolgirls we, eighteen and under, From scholastic trammels free, And we wonder — how we wonder! — We wonder — how we wonder! — What on earth the world can be! What on earth the world can be!