Page:Departmental Ditties and Ballads and Barrack-Room Ballads, Kipling, 1899.djvu/61

Rh She calls me "darling," "pet," and "dear,"

And "sweet retiring maid."

I'm always at the back, I know,

She puts me in the shade.

She introduces me to men,

"Cast" lovers, I opine,

For sixty takes to seventeen,

Nineteen to forty-nine.

But even She must older grow

And end Her dancing days,

She can't go on for ever so

At concerts, balls, and plays.

One ray of priceless hope I see

Before my footsteps shine:

Just think, that She'll be eighty-one

When I am forty-nine!