My Rival
by
Rudyard Kipling
|
| I go to concert, party,
ball― |
| What profit is in these? |
| I sit alone against the wall |
| And strive to look at ease. |
| The incense that is mine by right |
| They burn before Her shrine; |
| And that’s because I’m seventeen |
And she is forty-nine.
|
| I cannot check my girlish blush, |
| My colour comes and goes. |
| I redden to my finger-tips, |
| And sometimes to my nose. |
| But she is white where white should be, |
| And red where red should shine. |
| The blush that flies at seventeen |
Is fixed at forty-nine.
|
| I wish I had her constant cheek: |
| I wish that I could sing |
| All sorts of funny little songs, |
| Not quite the proper thing. |
| I’m very gauche and very shy, |
| Her jokes aren’t in my line; |
| And, worst of all, I’m seventeen |
While She is forty-nine.
|
| The young men come, the young men go, |
| Each pink and white and neat, |
| She’s older than their mothers, but |
| They grovel at Her feet |
| They walk beside Her rickshaw-wheels― |
| None ever walk by mine; |
| And that’s because I’m seventeen |
And she is forty-nine.
|
| She rides with half a dozen men |
| (She calls them "boys" and "mashes") |
| I trot along the Mall alone; |
| My prettiest frocks and sashes |
| Don’t help to fill my programme-card, |
| And vainly I repine |
| From ten to two A.M. Ah me! |
Would I were forty-nine.
|
| 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!
|
| Rudyard
Kipling |
Classic Poems |
| |
|
[ If ] [ The Way Through the Woods ] [ Danny Deever ] [ Recessional ] [ Tommy ] [ The White Man's Burden ] [ Chant-Pagan ] [ The Deep Sea Cables ] [ The Dykes ] [ Gunga Din ] [ The Gods of the Copybook Headings ] [ Fuzzy-Wuzzy ] [ The Land ] [ The Old Men ] [ My Rival ] |
