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.