I never loved a nigger belle --
My tastes are too aesthetic!
The perfume from a gin is -- well,
A rather strong emetic.
But, seeing that my theme is Pete,
This verse will be the neater
If I keep on the proper beat,
And stick throughout to Peter.
We picked him up the Lord knows where!
At noon we came across him
Asleep beside a hunk of bear --
His paunch was bulged with 'possum.
(Last stanza will not bear, I own,
A pressure analytic;
But bard whose weight is fourteen stone,
Is apt to thump the critic.)
We asked the kid to give his name:
He didn't seem too willing --
The darkey played the darkey's game --
We tipped him with a shilling!
We tipped him with a shining bob --
No Tommy Dodd, believe us.
We didn't "tumble" to his job --
Ah, why did Pete deceive us!
I, being, as I've said, a bard,
Resolved at once to foster
This mite whose length was just a yard --
This portable impostor!
"This babe" -- I spoke in Wordsworth's tone --
(See Wordsworth's "Lucy", neighbour)
"I'll make a darling of my own;
And he'll repay my labour.
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