Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

MY VERY PARTICULAR FRIEND by MARIA ABDY

First Line: ARE YOU STRUCK WITH HER FIGURE AND FACE?
Last Line: SHE'S MY VERY PARTICULAR FRIEND!
Subject(s): FLATTERY; FRIENDSHIP;
Are you struck with her figure and face?
How lucky you happened to meet
With none of the gossipping race,
Who dwell in this horrible street!
@3They@1 of slanderous hints never tire;
@3I@1 love to approve and commend,
And the lady you so much admire,
Is my @3very@1 particular friend!

How charming she looks—her dark curls
Really float with a @3natural@1 air;
And the beads might be taken for pearls,
That are twined in that beautiful hair:
Then what tints her fair features o'erspread—
That she uses @3white@1 paint some pretend;
But, believe me, she only wears @3red@1
She's my @3very@1 particular friend!

Then her voice, how divine it appears
While carolling "Rise gentle moon";
Lord Crotchet last night stopped his ears,
And declared that she sung out of tune;
For @3my@1 part, I think that her lay
Might to Malibran's sweetness pretend;
But people wont mind what @3I@1 say—
I'm her @3very@1 particular friend!

Then her writings—her exquisite rhyme
To posterity surely must reach;
(I wonder she finds so much time
With four little sisters to teach!)
A critic in Blackwood, indeed,
Abused the last poem she penned;
The article made my heart bleed—
She's my @3very@1 particular friend!

Her brother dispatched with a sword,
His friend in a duel, last June;
And her cousin eloped from her lord,
With a handsome and whiskered dragoon:
Her father with duns is beset,
Yet continues to dash and to spend—
She's too good for so worthless a set—
She's my @3very@1 particular friend!

All her chance of a portion is lost,
And I fear she'll be single for life;
Wise people @3will@1 count up the cost
Of a gay and extravagant wife:
But tis odious to marry for pelf,
(Though the times are not likely to mend,)
She's a fortune besides in herself—
She's my @3very@1 particular friend!

That she's somewhat sarcastic and pert,
It were useless and vain to deny:
She's a little too much of a flirt,
And a slattern when no one is by:
From her servants she constantly parts,
Before they have reached the year's end;
But her heart is the kindest of hearts—
She's my @3very@1 particular friend!

Oh! never have pencil or pen,
A creature more exquisite traced;
That her style does not take with the men,
Proves a sad want of judgment and taste;
And if to the sketch I give now,
Some @3flattering@1 touches I lend;
@3Do@1 for partial affection allow—
She's my @3very@1 particular friend!



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