The complete poetical works of Thomas Hood | ||
436
THE SWEETS OF YOUTH
‘Sweets to the sweet—farewell.’
—Hamlet.
Time was I liked a cheesecake well enough;
All human children have a sweetish taste—
I used to revel in a pie, or puff,
Or tart—we all were tartars in our youth;
To meet with jam or jelly was good luck,
All candies most complacently I crumped,
A stick of liquorice was good to suck,
And sugar was as often liked as lumped;
On treacle's ‘linkèd sweetness long drawn out,’
Or honey, I could feast like any fly,
I thrilled when lollipops were hawk'd about,
How pleased to compass hard bake or bull's eye,
How charmed if fortune in my power cast
Elecampane—but that campaign is past!
The complete poetical works of Thomas Hood | ||