Then of course there’s the obvious “wedlock”;
But that wasn’t it.
No! mine was a joke for the ages;
Full of intricate meaning and pith;
A feast for your scholars and sages—
How it would have rejoiced Sydney Smith!
’Tis such thoughts that ennoble a mortal;
And, singling him out from the herd,
Fling wide immortality’s portal—
But what was the word?