(_Lines written to a Lady who "Banted."_)
Some rhymes to make you laugh? I can't
Drop, Wegg-like, into rhyme instanter.
It's easiness itself to bant,
Comparatively hard to banter.
The many pretty things I'd say,
The pleasant thoughts I'd like to utter,
I may not do, it seems to-day--
You scorn the bare idea of _butter!_
"Sweets to the sweet." Not long ago,
Why chocolates--you'd gladly greet them.
Now you've abandoned them, and so
You never (hardly ever) eat them.
To see you drink hot water--that
The very stoniest heart would soften,
You evidently think it flat,
You're in it--aren't you--much too often?
Yet whether 9st. 12, as when
You weighed that day at Margate Station,
Or 10st. 7, or 7st. 10,
_I_ can't pretend to indignation.
To bant from early morn till late
May be, of course, supremely right of you;
But if you feel oppressed by weight,
Would it not do if we made light of you?
Though that I swear I will not do,
Let others, if they like, make bold to--
I merely write these rhymes for you,
I _always_ do just what I'm told to!
But if you cease to peak and pine
(For Time the Banting Conscience hardens),
You will not fail to drop a line--
My chambers are in Temple Gardens.
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