XIV.

This morning when we come to work I got
Jammed in the elevator back of you, and there
They made you stick your elbow in me where
The mince pie lands; the lunch that I had brought
Was all smashed flat, but still I didn't care;
You leaned against me, for you couldn't stand
Because the ones in front were crowdin', and
My nose was pressed deep into your back hair.
I wish we'd had to go ten times as high,
Or else that we'd be shootin' upward yet,
And never stop no more until we'd get
Away above the clouds and in the sky,
And you'd lean back forevermore and let
Your hairpins always jab me in the eye.

XV.

When her and me were here alone, at noon,
And she had bit a pickle square in two,
I set and watched and listened to her chew,
And thought how sweet she was, and pretty soon
She happened to look down at me and say:
"You seem so sad, poor boy; what's wrong with you?"
And then I got to shiverin' all through
And wished that I was forty miles away.
I tried to think of some excuse to make,
But something seemed all whirly in my head,
And so the first blame thing I knew I said:
"It's nothin' only just the stummick ache."
Sometimes I almost wisht that I was dead
For settin' there and makin' such a break.

XVI.

Last night I heard Jones astin' you to go
To see the opery next Thursday night,
And you said yes—and he'll be settin' right
Beside you there all through the whole blamed show,
And you'll be touchin' him with your elbow,
And mebby he'll say things that tickle you
And buy a box of chock'luts for you, too,
And I'll not be around nor never know.
I wish I'd be the hero on the stage,
And you was the fair maiden that got stoled,
And he would be the villain that would hold
You frettin' like a song-bird in its cage—
And then I'd come along and smash him one,
And you'd say: "Take me, dear, for what you done."