“The Hopes She Must Have Been Wrong About”

Aunt Patricia was a virgin at twenty
When her boyfriend proposed to marry:
“Pattie, let’s tie the knot and be merry–
For me, even nineteen is too old to marry.”

To which Aunt Patricia heaved a deep sigh:
“Paul, give me twenty years to say goodbye
To my youth before in your bosom I will lie–
At forty I’ll not watch my fond dreams die.”

“You my bride at forty?
You’d have lost fertility;
Imagine a Grand Old Lady
Walking down the aisle with me!”

At forty Aunt Patricia is an accomplished attorney;
The world is at her feet for she wades in money:
“Now, Paul, it’s high time for us to marry-
Love is good but not as sweet as money.”

“Don’t force money to do the work of love,
Or love to do the work of money, old dove;
If in money there is no baby and honey,
I’d rather be alone and refuse to marry.”

Now at seventy Aunt Patricia can’t turn about
To go back to time when she made a bout
With life’s nightmares that tended to rout
The hopes she must have been so wrong about.

Aunt Patricia’s gold medals hung on her gilded wall
Beside Paul’s faded picture to be viewed by all;
She says she still has forever to wait for Paul
No matter how many cloudy skies would fall. ###