Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, AN 'OLD MAID', by RAY CLARKE ROSE



Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

AN 'OLD MAID', by                    
First Line: There's a spinster of thirty-some years whose abode
Last Line: And she didn't seem just to — well, you understand!
Subject(s): Household Employees; Single People; Solitude; Servants; Domestics; Maids; Bachelors; Unmarried People; Loneliness


THERE'S a spinster of thirty-some years whose abode
Is at number some hundreds in Sheridan Road,
And the peach-and-cream lassies who live thereabout
Trip by in gay dresses with many a flout,
And giggle and whisper they're "really afraid"
This time-tempered lady will die an "old maid"!
Great heavens! just think what a terrible fate —
To live and to die a forlorn celibate!

Now, the worst of all this is the evident truth
That this "lone" maiden lady keeps much of her youth,
Seems ever contented and never to fret,
And laughs and is gay as if free from regret!
There are men at her elbow and men at her feet,
And men in fine turn-outs wait out in the street;
But, alas! this poor lady will certainly grow
Much older, and she is unmarried, you know!

Too bad! 'T is a pity! She's such a nice girl —
Or spinster — a man must, indeed, be a churl
Who would fail to discover her beauty and charm!
Still, the oddest of all is she shows no alarm
For this horrible fate that impends — can it be
That she'd rather not marry? She said so to me —
This is quite confidential: I asked for her hand
And she didn't seem just to — well, you understand!





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...



Home: PoetryExplorer.net