Show me a love was done and through,
Tell me a kiss escaped its debt!
Son, to your death you'll pay your due—
Women and elephants never forget.
Ever a man, alas, would mix,
Ever a man, heigh-ho, must woo;
So he's left in the world-old fix,
Thus is furthered the sale of rue.
Son, your chances are thin and few—
Won't you ponder, before you're set?
Shoot if you must, but hold in view
Women and elephants never forget.
Down from Caesar past Joynson-Hicks
Echoes the warning, ever new:
Though they're trained to amusing tricks,
Gentler, they, than the pigeon's coo,
William Joynson-Hicks  was Home Secretary in Britain in the 1920s and gained a reputation for cracking down on night clubs and other ‘immoral’ emblems of the roaring twenties.
Ballade of Unfortunate Mammals