Page 68 - Poetry-Romance

And I was rubicund and plain
As cooks when out of situations,
And envied those who could achieve
Flirtations.

Yet when by some ill-chance we met
My steady pulse declined to flutter,
And I’d no other wish except
To cut her.

While she delighted to invent
Some horrible nickname to dub me,
And seized with rapture every chance
To snub me.

I had no reason in the world
to hate this Juno-Venus-Naiad,
And she had just about as much
As I had.

But this I know, though forescore years
Should be our lot ere falls the curtain,
Miss D. and I will ne’er be friends,
That’s certain.

P. S.—October, ‘91.
Dear reader—if so long you’ve tarried,
There’s only one more line to add,
We’re married.

—(Pall Mall Gazette, 1890)

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