Fugitive Poetry. 1600–1878/How-d'ye-do and Good-bye

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How-D'Ye-Do, and Good-Bye.
One day Good-bye met How-d'ye-do, Too close to shun saluting;But soon the rival sisters flew, From kissing to disputing.
"Away," says How-d'ye-do, "your mien Appals my cheerful nature;No name so sad as yours is seen In sorrow's nomenclature.
"Whene'er I give one sunshine hour, Your cloud comes in to shade it;Whene'er I plant one bosom's flower, Your mildew drops do fade it.
"Ere How-d'ye-do has tuned each tongue To hope's delightful measure,Good-bye in Friendship's ear has rung The knell of parting pleasure.
"From sorrows past my chemic skill Draws smiles of consolation;While you from present joys distil The tears of separation."
Good-bye replied, "Your statement's true, And well your cause you've pleaded;But pray who'd think of How-d'ye-do, Unless Good-bye preceded?
"Without my prior influence Could you have ever flourished?And can your hand one flower dispense, But what my tears have nourished?
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"How oft, if at the Court of Love Concealment be the fashion,When How-d'ye-do has failed to move, Good-bye reveals the passion!
"How oft, when Cupid's fires decline, As every heart remembers,One sigh of mine, and only mine, Revives the dying embers!
"Go, bid the timid lover choose, And I'll resign my charter,If he for ten kind how-d'ye-does, One kind good-bye would barter.
"From Love and Friendship's kindred source We both derive existence;And they would both lose half their force Without our joint assistance.
"'Tis well the world our merit knows, Since time (there's no denying)One half in how-d'ye-doing goes, And t'other in good-byeing."

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