Select Poetry.

Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3939, 13 August 1881, Page 1

Select Poetry.

A BACHELOR'S ©BOWL

I'm a grumpy old bachelor Grizzly and gray; I'm seven-and-forty If I am a day. I am fussy and crusty, Aad dry as a bone ; So, ladies, good ladies, Just let me alone. Qo shake out your ringlets, And beam out in smiles, Go tinkle your trinkets And show off your wiles. and bewilder Wherever you can; But, pray—pray remember, I am not the man! I'm frozen to blushes, I'm poof against eyes; I'm hardened to simpers And stony to eigks ; ; I'm tough to each dart That young Cupid can lance ; I'm not in the market To any advance. I sew on my buttons, I darn my own hose, I keep my own counsel, I fold my own clothes. I mind my own business, And live my own life ; I won't—no, the dickensBe plagued with a wife. And yet there's nine spinsters Who believe me their fate ; .There's two doz n widows Who'd change their estate. Th> re's Billy young maidens Who blush at my bow ; All—all bent on marrying me, No matter how ! I walk forth in trembling ; I come home in dread ; I don't fear my heart, But I do fear my head ! My civilist speech Is a growl or a nod ; And that—heaven save me ! Is " charmingly odd !" So, ladies—dear ladies— Just hear me, I pray ; I speak to you all In the pluralist way. My logic is simple As logic can be— If I wont marry you, Pray don't marry me!