The sumptuous board of you know who
⁠Was rich with unaccustomed splendour:
The host, a gallant man and true,
⁠Beamed like a newly polished fender:
And more than one important guest
⁠With visible delight was swelling:
But that which I remember best
⁠Is just a phrase:—"How's Helen?"

I sat, a melancholy man,
⁠Beside a newly-married lady,
And wondered how, if I began,
⁠To shun the trivial, dull and shady;
When through the dinner-din I caught
⁠A question I remember well, in
My hours of retrospective thought:
⁠My neighbour said:—"How's Helen?"

I do not know how Helen was:
⁠—She's almost always doing fairly—:
Nor do I greatly care, because
⁠The question, which was asked so squarely,
Produced an excellent effect
⁠Both then and since: it's truth I'm telling;
And that is why I recollect
⁠The simple phrase: "How's Helen?"