Sweet Song For Nancy and Jane

Sweet Song For Nancy and Jane

by Vernon Scannell

This is the sweet song,

Song of all the sweets,

Caramel and butterscotch,

Bulls-eyes, raspberry treats;

Treacle toffee, acid drops, 

Pastilles, crystal fruits,

Bubble gum and liquorice sticks 

As black as new gumboots;

Peppermint creams and aniseed balls, 

Tiny sweets and whoppers,

Dolly mixtures, chocolate drops, 

Gigantic gobstoppers;

Lemon sherbets, jelly babies, 

Chocolate cream and flake, 

Nougat, fudge, and sweets that give 

You tooth and belly ache.

But the sweets I end my song with 

Could never give me pain

In tooth or tummy — anywhere. 

One’s Nancy; one is Jane.

My goodness this brings back memories of a childhood in England in the 1960s.  I could not have recalled all these delights unprompted but reading the list I recognize virtually all of them.  What a set of evoked taste memories.