I'm eager enough of my woes to be rid,

But Cupid needs help in the placing

Of shafts in a heart that's apparently hid

'Neath a tough pachydermatous casing.

I have mingled with maidens—the tender, the hard,

The coy and the clinging—in legions;

But none has contrived to inflict on the bard

A jolt in the cardiac regions;

Must I turn for assistance to science or art,

Or put my predicament meekly