Classic Poem

When I met one day on a journey
My sweetheart's relations by chance,
Small sister, and father and mother,
They recognised me at a glance.

They asked if my health was stronger,
And at once began to exclaim
That, except for being paler,
I looked exactly the same.

I asked after aunts and cousins,
And many a family bore;
And after the little puppy
Whose bark was so gentle of yore.

And after my married darling
I asked, by-the-bye; and they said,
With an evident wish to be friendly,
That she was just brought to bed.

I offered congratulations,
Lisping stock phrases inane,
I desired my kindest remembrance
To her, again and again.

Small sister meanwhile was shrilling:
“The puppy so gentle and small
Grew big and awfully savage,
And was drowned in the Rhine after all.”

The little one's like my darling;
And when she laughs I see
Those self-same eyes whose sweetness
Has brought such woe on me.