Edmund Leighton, British
“You Know We’re Both Thinking It: If Ben and J. Lo Can’t Make It Work, What Chance Do WE Have?,” 1903
Oil on canvas
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Artist info is pointed to in my comment at another blog entry.
/// Malcolm shouts from the opposite shore
to the girl he had come to adore
from the letters she wrote,
but a stud in a boat
has approached Merry, trying to score.
/// Though they’d never met, Malcolm still knows
that she’s Merry— she carries a rose.
He must cross the canal
to get close to the gal,
but he’s nervous and fears that it shows.
/// They’d exchanged letters nearly a year.
Their first meeting would be on this pier.
Malcolm needed a ferry
to convey him to Merry,
but the boatman had never come near.
/// It is vital that he not be late
for their anticipated first date.
In her pretty red bonnet
with white lace trim upon it,
Merry might be reluctant to wait.
/// She admired Malcolm due to his writing.
Would she find him, in person, exciting?
His young, handsome rival
delayed Mal’s arrival;
now her hankie she’s nervously biting.
/// Sev’ral suitors have tried to make Merry,
(one tried serving her punch laced with sherry),
but the man she will prize
must be good, kind, and wise,
so she’s zealously guarded her cherry.
/// Malcolm fears that his prospects are slim
if she spends much more time wooed by him.
There is just one solution,
so, despite the pollution,
he’ll set off cross the water to swim.
/// Lovely letters from Malcolm she’d read
made her think, “Here’s a man I could wed.”
And she couldn’t ignore
his swim from that far shore.
Would she opt for some “himbo” instead?
/// Years from now, grandkids learn how they met.
He appeared by her side, dripping wet.
Yet, the look in her eyes—
humor mixed with surprise—
paved the way for a lifelong duet.