Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE SILLY OLD MAN, by ANONYMOUS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE SILLY OLD MAN, by                    
First Line: "come listen awhile, and I'll sing you a song"
Last Line: "so go to your grave, you silly old man"
Subject(s): Cuckolds;hate


Come listen awhile, and I'll sing you a song:
I am a young damsel just turned twenty-one.
I married a miser for gold, it is true,
And the age of his years were seventy-two.
Will you live for ever, you silly old man?
I wish that your days they were all at an end!
To please a young woman is more than you can --
It's not in your power, you silly old man.
For every night when I go to bed
He lays by my side like one that is dead.
Such spitting and coughing, it makes me run wild,
Though I'm never disturbed by the noise of my child.
Was there ever a woman so sorely oppressed,
For every morning I've got him for to dress,
And like a young child I have got him for to nusse,
For he's got ne'er a tooth to mumble a crust.
When I go to bed to him he makes me run wild,
For he's got no more use in his limbs than a child,
He feels all as cold as a piece of lead,
That I have a great mind to get out of bed.
There's a buxom young fellow that lives in this town
That pleases me well, so we'll cut out the clown.
I'll make him wear horns as long as a stag,
So we'll cuckold the miser and seize his gold bag.
When I go to bed to him I do not lay nigh,
For he grunts and he groans like a pig in a sty.
I'm sure a young woman would soon wish him dead,
He's as bald as a coot with no teeth in his head.
Will you live for ever, you silly old man?
I wish that your days they were all at an end!
I'll spend all your gold with some lusty young man --
So go to your grave, you silly old man.







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