The Broken Engagement, Page 4 Of 4 Poem by John Bliven Morin

'Who iss diss Englishman zo? '
The old man shouted;
'Someone I knew long ago, '
She replied loudly.
To me, 'He's deaf as a post.
Rich as Croesus, Walter,
But he won't give up the ghost.
For twenty years
His physicians repeatedly give,
After examining him,
Six months to bloody live.
He'll outlive me,
Walter. The old fossil just
Goes on and on and on,
While I whither, age, and rust;
How I've grown to hate him!
I heard you married just a year
After we parted -
What was her name, dear?
Elspeth, wasn't it? '
'Elspeth was her name, ' I replied,
'A very kind young woman,
But she got the fevers and died
Rather long ago.
Ten years ago I remarried -
The verger's daughter -
I think you surely must know
Her. She adored you.'
'That moppet? What a pest
She was, admiring my beauty.
I suppose you know what's best.
Must you leave so soon?
You haven't met my Count, Sergei...'
'Please give him my regrets, '
I said, hurrying quickly away,
Back to my dear Mary.