I keep thee with more effort than I’d use
To keep a dry-goods shop or big hotel.
I keep thee with a power I seemed to lose
With that last cook. I’ll keep thee down the well,
Or up the chimney-place! Or if I choose,
I shall but keep thee in a Pumpkin shell.
This was of course meritorious, though somewhat suggestive of the cave-men, who, we have never been told, were Pumpkin Eaters.
Austin Dobson’s version was really more ladylike:
BALLADE OF A PUMPKIN
Golden-skinned, delicate, bright,