Keeping His First Wife Now

It's oh! for a rivet in marriage bonds,
And a splice in the knot untied,
The sanctity of the marriage tie
Is growing more sanctified!
Theyre getting mixed up in society,
Theres an awful family row,
For Reginald Jones of The Fernery
Is keeping his first wife now!

Oh! she belonged to the smart, smart set
(Where reasons are far to seek),
And the wedding and crush are remembered yet
As the smart things of the week.
Never an atom of love had she,
But they had a child somehow,
And Reginald Jones of The Fernery
Has the love of his first wife now.

Mad for notice and talk was she,
A butterfly blind as a bat,
She would flaunt for a season a divorcee,
Or divorce him, failing that.
He played his part and she held his heart
As light as her marriage vow,
But Reginald Jones of The Fernery
Has a hold on his first wife now.

She swore in Court what the world knew false,
With never a thought of shame,
She was free to flaunt to her hearts content,
But she found it mighty tame:
The talk of the town for a week or two,
The gush, the smirk and the bow,
But Reginald Jones of The Fernery
Is the God of his first wife now!

Her soul grew sick of the smart, smart set,
Or her conscience drove her wild,
Or she craved for notice and talk once more,
Or perhaps because of the child;
But they met at last and they met again,
No matter the where or how,
And Reginald Jones of The Fernery
Is in love with his first wife now.

Tis a terrible life for the second young wife,
But she married him too for place;
And she mustnt forget that a smarting set
Belongs to the human race.
They say its fixed up in camera,
And, if that is the case, Ill vow,
That Reginald Jones of The Fernery
Will marry his first wife now.

And there is a song of the English world
And a song for the English race:
The second husband and second wife
Must ever take second place.
So cherish the best that you find in the first,
And a margin of width allow:
The future looks after itself too well!
Look after the first ones now.

Henry Lawson

Henry Lawson was an Australian writer and poet. Along with Banjo Paterson, he is among the best-known Australian poets and fiction writers of the colonial period and is often called Australia's 'greatest short story writer'. His works frequently document the lives and struggles of rural and outback Australians. Lawson's own life was marked by hardship and struggles including impaired hearing and financial difficulties, which influenced his realist depictions of Australian life. Some of his notable works include 'While the Billy Boils' and 'In the Days When the World was Wide.'

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Henry Lawson, Simple Poetry

English

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My Wifes Second Husband

The world goes round, old fellow,
And still Im in the swim,
While my wifes second husband
Is growing old and grim.
I meet him in the city,
It all seems very tame,
He glances at me sometimes
As if I were to blame.

Oh, my wifes second husband
Was handsome, young and true;
He had his boyish visions
(I had my visions too).
He made a model lover,
The greenest in the game,
They say, when I was married
That I was just the same.

Though I am ten years older
My hair is dark to-day,
While my wifes second husband
Is quickly growing grey.
I drank when first he knew me,
And he drank not at all;
I see that he, through drinking,
Is going to the wall.

A sweet ill-treated woman,
A drunken brute (Good Lord!),

Henry Lawson

Written Afterwards

So the days of my tramping are over,
And the days of my riding are done,
Im about as content as a rover
Will ever be under the sun;
I write, after reading your letter,
My pipe with old memories rife,
And I feel in a mood that had better
Not meet the true eyes of the wife.

You must never admit a suggestion
That old things are good to recall;
You must never consider the question:
Was I happier then, after all?
You must banish the old hope and sorrow
That make the sad pleasures of life,
You must live for To-day and To-morrow
If you want to be just to the wife.

I have changed since the first day I kissed her.
Which is due, Heaven bless her!, to her;
Im respected and trusted, Im Mister,
Addressed by the children as Sir.
And ...

Henry Lawson

Divorced

Two couples are drifting the self-same way
(Men of the world know well)
From the ballroom glare as the night grows grey
(Men of the world can tell).
Many are round them who know, and knew,
But men of the world are blind;
That couple in front has nought to do
With the couple that comes behind.

The woman starts on her partners arm,
For a reason he could not tell,
She trips and she laughs the Society laugh,
That men of the world know well.
If she laughs too suddenly, talks too fast,
We are deaf as well as blind,
Twas only the ghosts of the girlish days
When she married the man behind.

He feels a pang where his heart had been
(For a reason he cannot tell).
A spasm that mars the cynical smile
That men of the world know well.
A spas...

Henry Lawson

The Men Who Made Bad Matches

'Tis the song of many husbands, and you all must understand
That you cannot call me coward now that women rule the land;
I have written much for women, where I thought that they were right,
But the men who made bad matches claim a song from me to-night.

Oh, the men who made bad matches are of every tribe and clime,
And, if Adam was the first man, then they date from Adams time.
They shall live and they shall suffer, until married life is past,
And the last sad son of Adam stands alone, at peace at last.

Oh, the men who made bad matches, and the Great Misunderstood,
Are through all the world a mighty and a silent brotherhood.
If a wife is discontented, every other woman knows,
But the men who made bad matches keep the cruel secret close.

You may say that you can...

Henry Lawson

The Peace Maker

It has a point of neither sex
But comes in guise of both,
And, doubly dangerous complex,
It is a thing to loathe,
A lady with her sweet, sad smile,
A gentleman on oath.

Strip off the mother-veil, and fur!
And signs of quiet taste.
The dead childs locket take from her
(The dead mans gift in haste)
And wash from every evil line
The layers of filling paste!

From saddened eyes the hells own glare!
From sweet mouth blasphemy!
Wrench out the gold-filled false teeth there
That twice mock honesty,
And leave the evil face awry
For married folk to see.

For foolish girl wives in despair,
For mens and childrens sakes,
Let loose the glossed and padded hair
To writhe like scorching snakes!
And strip the barren bod...

Henry Lawson

Hes Gone To England For A Wife

He's gone to England for a wife
Among the ladies there;
And yet I know a lass he deemed
The rarest of the rare.
Hes gone to England for a wife;
And rich and proud is he.
But he was poor and toiled for bread
When first he courted me.

He said I was the best on earth;
He said I was his life;
And now he thinks of noble birth,
And seeks a lady wife!
He said for me alone hed toil
To win an honest fame;
But now no lass on southern soil
Is worthy of his name!

I think I see his lady bride,
A fair and faultless face,
And nothing in her heart beside
The empty pride of race.
And she will grace his gilded home,
The wife his gold shall buy;
But will she ever dream of him,
Or love as well as I?

Henry Lawson