Dialogue Between a Sovereign and a One-Pound Note by Thomas Moore
Said a Sov’reign to a Note, In the pocket of my coat, Where they met in a neat purse of leather, “How happens it, I prithee, That though I’m wedded with thee, Fair Pound, we can never live together?
Like your sex, fond of change, With silver you can range, And of lots of young sixpences be mother; While with me — upon my word Not my Lady and my Lord Of W–stm–th see so little of each other!”
The indignant Note replied (Lying crumpled by his side), “Shame, shame, it is yourself that roam, Sir — One cannot look askance, But, whip! you’re off to France, Leaving nothing but old rags at home, Sir.
Your scampering began from the moment Parson Van, Poor man, made us one in Love’s fetter; “For better or for worse” Is the usual marriage curse, But ours is all “worse” and no “better.”
In vain are laws pass’d, There’s nothing holds you fast Tho’ you know, sweet Sovereign, I adore you — At the smallest hint in life, Your forsake your lawful wife, As other Sovereigns did before you.
I flirt with Silver, true — But what can ladies do, When disown’d by their natural protectors? And as to falsehood, stuff! I shall soon be false enough, When I get among those wicked Bank Directors.”
The Sovereign, smiling on her, Now swore, upon his honour, To be henceforth domestic and loyal; But, within an hour or two, Why — I sold him to a Jew, And he’s now at No. 10, Palais Royal.
Poetry Monster — the ultimate repository of world poetry.
Poetry Monster — the multilingual library of poetic works. Here you’ll find original poems, poetry translations, ancient verses, ballads and even folk tales.
Poetry Monster (or even The Poetry Monster) — is also an international multilingual community of poets and poetry connoisseurs. Join us:
Some external links: The Bat’s Poetry Cave. — Fledermaus’s poetry site. Talking Writing Monster. — the irreverent and irrelevant chatter on subjects both serious and not quite. A free for all board. You can scribble anything on it without registration (but it doesn’t let spammers in). You can even post your poems. Qwant.com. — a search engine from France. It’s an alternative because there are a few alternatives, like Bing, Duckduckgo, and Ecosia. And there is Yandex, the ultimate language-oriented search engine for the Russophone world. Commercial Links: Russian Commerce – the foreign trade assistance agency Other links: Poems and poetry in Russian (if you are reading this in English, as you obviously are, then you’d have to switch the language, the language switch is on the menu. More on languages)
