The Ideal Husband to His Wife

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 wo,

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.