Burke and Hare

I'm Knox a famous surgeon

And I earn my daily bread

By studying cadavers

Which are bodies not long dead

One day two suave young gentlemen

Appeared within my view

I'm Mr Burke, I'm Mr Hare

How do you do?

These gents explained that their

Acquaintance had just passed away

It seemed the body'd only been

A goner for a day

Excuse the curious offer

Said Hare or was it Burke?

But would you care to slice this up

To see how corpses work?

Well it's always a palaver

Getting hold of a cadaver

So I said yes I'll ahve her

Oh, it's a he

This body taught me much about

What makes a person poorly

Why some men live to 99

And some die prematurely

How these thing function perfectly

And others won't repair

How everything is, interlinked

Oh what's that doing there?

'Til one day there was nothing left

And all my work was spent

Then Burke and Hare turned up again

My, how convenient!

Another slab of fresh

Human organs, bone and flesh

Another gory sesh, excellent news

(Laughs evilly)

As time went on these kind men

Brought me several guys and gals

My lab was choca-block

With all their freshly passed on pals

I paid them lots of money

Bodies came from everywhere

U really are a busy Mr Burke

And Mr Hare

They seemed such cultured gentlemen

I never did suspect

That Burke and Hare were not so nice

I really should have checked

Then one day a policeman came

Asked if I've seen a chap

I hadn't, but days later

His corpses turned up in my lap

It seemed that these acquaintances

Of Burke and Hare actually

Were not their friends and

Did not always die naturally

Burke and Hare had murdered them

It was plain to see

Then brought the corpses to my lab

And pocketed the fee

The two men were arrested

But one of them set free

Poor Burke was hanged

But happily his corpse was sent to me

Oh bit wiffy

Still much to learn