THE Separated Women
Go lying through the land,
For they have plenty dresses,
And money, too, in hand;
They married brutes and drunkards
And blackguards frightful low,
But why are they so eager
For all the world to know?
The shamed and ill-used woman
Who really longs to die,
She slaves at home in silence
And hides her poor black eye!
She lives a life of terror
Eased off at times in woe
But why is she so frightened
That any one might know?
The Separated Woman
She rushes to the court,
Sad, shabby and pathetic,
Or flaunting or distraught;
The real wronged wife would rather
Lose both eyes and her hair
She swears a lie to save him
When he is taken there.
The Separated Woman
She mostly goes the same,
Bag-woman, sham-nurse, pretty,
Or on her husbands name;
The real loafed-on woman,
With courage almost grim,
Goes out and takes in washing
To keep the kidsand him.
The Separated Woman
I knew her course so well:
The Stage, then first-class barmaid,
Then third-class barand hell:
And hell means all things vicious
That prey upon the town
(She wishes her poor husband
Had sometimes knocked her down).
Masseur and manicurist,
Or anything by chance,
They vilify their husbands
And draw the maintenance.
Sham artists, music teachers
Oh! they are flinty nuts!
Their friends are man-shaped crawlers
And lower than the dust.
The separated Monsters
Are missing from the tale
They seem to have cleared outor,
Perhaps they are in gaol.
The separated husband
Is heard of here and there,
A mild and decent citizen
And mostly bowed with care.
The Separated Women,
When upset in the track,
Are often very eager
To take the Monster back.
Theyve moved all hell to crush him
And, startled, find too late
The Monsters grown content with
The separated state.
