The Woman I Didn't Know Poem by David Lewis Paget

Elizabeth Paddington Warrington Ware
I met on a path today,
I knew by the wind that was blowing her hair
She'd not have a lot to say.
I said my hello and she turned then to go
And she stuck her nose up in the air,
Like she didn't know me, or sought then to throw me
Which I didn't think very fair.

I said, ‘Aren't you talking? ' but she just kept walking
So I turned around and caught up.
I caught at her sleeve in a moment of peeve
And in doing, spilt tea from my cup,
She snapped ‘Understand me, young man, and unhand me
You're showing that you have no couth! '
I thought she was blind or was being unkind
I'm a pensioner, far from a youth.

‘Don't say you don't know me, you're trying to snow me,
Remember, we once had a fling, '
I had her engaged, but she flew in a rage
And said, ‘I don't recall such a thing!
You're merely a stranger, I feel I'm in danger,
I'm calling for help in a thrice, '
‘How could you forget me, with all that you let me
Back then, don't you think it was nice? '

‘I'm Ellen Pengellen O'Fogarty Fair, '
She exclaimed, and I said, ‘then you're not…
Elizabeth Paddington Warrington Ware,
I'm so sorry, I must have forgot.'
I thought, ‘I'm in trouble, she must have a double, '
Then thought of the tat on her bot,
‘Do you have a sailor? ' She blushed, I had nailed her,
For Fair she was certainly not!

1 March 2017