A Jiffy.

Since I been knee-high to the table,
I've puzzled at the length of a jiffy,
The term always seems like a fable
Or the absence of anything miffy.

II.

It seemed like a midget of time,
When a boy, to get ready for class;
Yet unbearably all out of rhyme
As the clock toward the dinner hours pass.

III.

Time needed to jerk out a fish,
When hour after hour did I wait,
Sit on that bank there and wish,.
Till in that jiffy I'd used all my bait.

IV.

The doctor will make you gloriously well
In a jiffy, he'll tell you on sight;
You don't believe that blamed doctor can tell,
But you pay for his jiffy all right.

The time now required to get justice,
Gives the lawyer a chance and a fee,
But your own bank account's marked "bustus,"
When the case is decided, you'll see.

VI.

I'm a man now and have built up a rep,
Been a congressional nominee,
'Ve found how long it takes to get beat one step,
It takes just a political jiffy.

^__C. P. Slane.

Flashlights and Territorial Reminiscences of Kansas
In Verse
C. P. Slane
(Cincinnati: The Editor Publishing Co. 1900)
Page 61