Classic Poem

One day, Good-bye met How-d'ye-do,
Too close to shun saluting,
But soon the rival sisters flew,
From kissing, to disputing.

" Away, " says How-d'ye-do, " your mien
Appals my cheerful nature,
No name so sad as your's is seen
In sorrow's nomenclature.

" Whene'er I give one sunshine hour,
Your cloud comes o'er to shade it;
Where'er I plant one bosom flow'r,
Your mildew drops to fade it.

" Ere How-d'ye-do has tun'd each tongue
To hope's delightful measure,
Good-bye in friendship's ear has rung
The knell of parting pleasure!

" From sorrows past, my chemic skill
Draws smiles of consolation,
Whilst you from present joys distil
The tears of separation. " —

Good-bye replied, " Your statement's true,
And well your cause you've pleaded;
But pray, who'd think of How-d'ye-do,
Unless Good-bye preceded?

" Without my prior influence
Could yours have ever flourish'd?
And can your hand one flow'r dispense
But those my tears have nourish'd?

" How oft, if at the court of Love
Concealment be the fashion,
When How-d'ye-do has fail'd to move,
Good-bye reveals the passion!

" How oft, when Cupid's fires decline,
As ev'ry heart remembers,
One sigh of mine, and only mine,
Revives the dying embers!

" Go, bid the timid lover choose,
And I'll resign my charter;
If he, for ten kind How-d'ye dos,
One kind Good-bye would barter!

" From Love and Friendship's kindred source
We both derive existence,
And they would both lose half their force,
Without our joint assistance.

" 'Tis well the world our merit knows
Since time, there's no denying,
One half in How-d'ye-doing goes,
And t'other in Good-byeing! "