70  
WHY JESUS WEPT. 
MOLLY. 
Oh, do come, dearie ! 
 
THEATRE-GOER. 
No, I tell you — try Liverpool Street ! 
 
Curtain. 
 
 
What follows is strictly by request in the interest of ‘ healthy optimism’. 
 
So far my pen has touched with vivid truth 
The constant story of the eternal struggle 
Of age and sense with flatulence and youth. 
Now — see the venal poet start to juggle ! 
Young ladies, you desire to see a comedy ! 
The poet’s master pen shall twist the river 
Of song into a simple to-and-from eddy. 
And you shall laugh where once you feared to shiver. 
So listen to the happy termination 
Of this apparently so sad relation ! 
Twill suit your rosy dreams to admiration ! 
But, be the gatepost witness !  it is rot. 
Still, if I hide my face with due decorum 
Behind a silken kerchief in the forum, 
And laugh aloud — at home — 
At the silliness of Rome, 
You’ll forgive me, will you not ?