When I first put this uniform on, <br />I said, as I looked in the glass, <br />"It's one to a million <br />That any civilian <br />My figure and form will surpass. <br />Gold lace has a charm for the fair, <br />And I've plenty of that, and to spare, <br />While a lover's professions, <br />When uttered in Hessians, <br />Are eloquent everywhere!" <br />A fact that I counted upon, <br />When I first put this uniform on! <br /> <br />I said, when I first put it on, <br />"It is plain to the veriest dunce <br />That every beauty <br />Will feel it her duty <br />To yield to its glamour at once. <br />They will see that I'm freely gold-laced <br />In a uniform handsome and chaste" - <br />But the peripatetics <br />Of long-haired aesthetics, <br />Are very much more to their taste - <br />Which I never counted upon <br />When I first put this uniform on!<br /><br />William Schwenck Gilbert<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/when-i-first-put-this-uniform-on/
