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!),     Ah, well, she got her freedom,     And he got his reward.     Hell fight it out a season,     For Fate will not be forced,     But my wifes second husband     Shall surely be divorced.     I sympathize, and wonder     What mutual friends would think     If my wifes second husband     And I should have a drink.     And I a mere bystander,     It almost seems absurd,     Might lay prophetically     My hand on my wifes third.     But my wifes second husband     His sorrows shall forget,     Well clasp warm hands in friendship     And clink our glasses yet.     Well smoke cigars together,     In pure philosophy,     While calmly contemplating     The fate of number three.