AN EXCUSE

I went to Hops the other day
And said, "Professor I'm going away
'Twill not be long that I shall stay
I'm call by the sickness of Dear Aunt May."

Yes, yes, too bad, indeed, I see,
I've had the same thing happen to me,
But a note I've made in this little book here
Says your dear Aunt May died some time last year.

It's somewhat singular, don't you know,
For you not to remember a year ago,
When you for excuses then applied,
That you might visit the loved one's side.

How you staid two weeks, came back and said,
With tears in your eyes, that Aunt May was dead.
Most any excuse I'll be glad to grant,
But you'll have to invent another aunt.

J.R.B., '98

Hamiltonian