NOT long ago I fell in love,
But unreturned is my affection–
The girl that I’m enamored of
Pays little heed in my direction.

I thought I knew her fairly well:
In fact, I’d had my arm around her;
And so it’s hard to have to tell
How unresponsive I have found her.

For, though she is not frankly rude,
Her manners quite the wrong way rub me:
It seems to me ingratitude
To let me love her–and then snub me!

Though I’m considerate and fond,
She shows no gladness when she spies me–
She gazes off somewhere beyond
And doesn’t even recognize me.

Her eyes, so candid, calm and blue,
Seem asking if I can support her
In the style appropriate to
A lady like her father’s daughter.

Well, if I can’t, then no one can–
And let me add that I intend to:
She’ll never know another man
So fit for her to be a friend to.

Not love me, eh? She better had!
By Jove, I’ll make her love me one day;
For, don’t you see, I am her Dad,
And she is three weeks old today on Sunday!

by Christopher Morley as found in :The Rocking Horse