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Mary and I were twenty-two
          When we were wed;
A well-matched pair, right smart to view
          The town's folk said.
For twenty years I have been true
          To nuptial bed.

But oh alas! The march of time,
          Life's wear and tear!
Now I am in my lusty prime
          With pep to spare,
While she looks ten more years than I'm,
          With greying hair.

'Twas on our trip dear friends among,
          To New Orleans,
A stranger's silly trip of tongue
          Kiboshed my dreams:
I heard her say: 'How very young
          His mother seems.'

Child-bearing gets a woman down,
          And six had she;
Yet now somehow I feel a clown
          When she's with me;
When cuties smile one cannot frown,
          You must agree.

How often I have heard it said:
          'For happy fate,
In age a girl ten years ahead
          Should choose her mate.'
Now twenty years to Mary wed
          I know too late.

Added: 29 Jun 2002 | Last Read: 4 Sep 2026 3:32 AM | Viewed: 4198 times

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