|
''The Betrothed'' is a poem by Rudyard Kipling, first published in book form in ''Departmental Ditties'' (1886). It is a tongue-in-cheek work by the young bachelor Kipling, who affected a very worldly-wise stance. In it, he takes as his epigraph the report of evidence in a breach of promise case, ''"You must choose between me and your cigar"''. The poem simply has a narrator musing on the difference between his fiancée Maggie and his habit of smoking cigars: :::For Maggie has written a letter to give me my choice between :::The wee little whimpering Love and the great god Nick o' Teen. He weighs up Maggie's looks, and what she will be at fifty; the limitations of monogamy against "a harem of dusky beauties"; and the relatively unknown woman against the tried and tested "Counsellors" and "comforters". His conclusion is: :::And a woman is only a woman, but a good cigar is a Smoke. :::Light me another Cuba - I hold to my first-sworn vows, :::If Maggie will have no rival, I'll have no Maggie for Spouse! 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Betrothed (poem)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|