Kiss Me, Kate!

There's no foule like an old foule!

Just one last kiss, my little stotty-cake.

You are my cate, my sweetmeat, dainty dish!

Be happy, hinnie, for your Old Man’s sake

(you’ve made me happier than I could have wished!)

My sugar dumpling, custard, treacle tart!

We’ll part with smiles, and try to hide the ache.

It couldn’t last -- we knew that from the start.

For us, there’ll be no happy ever after.

Go off, embrace your future.  Love and thrive. 

This thing -- this fling-- was just a young girl’s dream.

It was a pudding de nouvelle cuisine --

that’s short and sweet -- but how we raised the rafters!

Remember me.  And (if I’m still alive!)

I’ll always think of you, with love and laughter.

Author's Note

“Kiss Me Kate” is the title of the Cole Porter musical based on Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew”.

Stotty-cake = a delicacy consumed in the far north-east of England, where Kate comes from
Cate = Shakespearian word for a sweet or dessert
Hinnie = term of endearment for a girl or woman, used only in NE England