A Thoughtful Sweetheart

I made a new and sweet resolve,

     Then put it into rhyme;

And sent it post-haste to my love

     In all the glad year time.

“I have resolved that we shall wed

     Sometime in ’98;

And send a blank, dear Winifred,

     Where you may write the date.”

I had not very long to wait,

     Four hours by the clock;

I must confess my sweetheart’s date

     Gave me a merry shock:

“Men are so apt to break

     Their resolutions new,

That wholly for your sake I make

     It January two!”

Dec. 14, ‘97

Pub. in The Little

Joker, for Dec.

     1898