A Bachelor’s Invocation
When all my plans have come to grief,
And every bill is due,
And every faith that’s worth belief
Has proved itself untrue;
And when, as now, I’ve jilted been
By every girl I’ve met,
Ah! then I flee for peace to thee,
My darling cigarette.
Hail, sorceress! whose cloudy spells
About my senses driven,
Alone can loose their prison cells
And waft my soul to heaven.
Above all earthly loves, I swear,
I hold thee best—and yet,
Would I could see a match for thee,
My darling cigarette.
With lips unstained to thee I bring
A lover’s gentle kiss,
And woo thee, see, with this fair ring,
And this, and this, and this.
But ah, the rings no sooner cease
(Inconstant, vain coquette!)
Than, like the rest, thou vanishest
In smoke, my cigarette.
Pall Mall Gazette.