Ideal Husband To His Wife, The

We've lived for forty years, dear wife,
    And walked together side by side,
And you to-day are just as dear
    As when you were my bride.
I've tried to make life glad for you,
    One long, sweet honeymoon of joy,
A dream of marital content,
    Without the least alloy.
I've smoothed all boulders from our path,
    That we in peace might toil along,
By always hastening to admit
    That I was right and you were wrong.

No mad diversity of creed
    Has ever sundered me from thee;
For I permit you evermore
    To borrow your ideas of me.
And thus it is, through weal or woe,
    Our love forevermore endures;
For I permit that you should take
    My views and creeds, and make them yours.
And thus I let you have my way,
    And thus in peace we toil along,
For I am willing to admit
    That I am right and you are wrong.

And when our matrimonial skiff
    Strikes snags in love's meandering stream,
I lift our shallop from the rocks,
    And float as in a placid dream.
And well I know our marriage bliss
    While life shall last will never cease;
For I shall always let thee do,
    In generous love, just what I please.
Peace comes, and discord flies away,
    Love's bright day follows hatred's night;
For I am ready to admit
    That you are wrong and I am right.