The Men Who Made Bad Matches Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDD EEFG HHII JKII LLMM NNOP QQRR SSTT LLUU| 'Tis the song of many husbands and you all must understand | A |
| That you cannot call me coward now that women rule the land | A |
| I have written much for women where I thought that they were right | B |
| But the men who made bad matches claim a song from me to night | B |
| Oh the men who made bad matches are of every tribe and clime | C |
| And if Adam was the first man then they date from Adam s time | C |
| They shall live and they shall suffer until married life is past | D |
| And the last sad son of Adam stands alone at peace at last | D |
| - | |
| Oh the men who made bad matches and the Great Misunderstood | E |
| Are through all the world a mighty and a silent brotherhood | E |
| If a wife is discontented every other woman knows | F |
| But the men who made bad matches keep the cruel secret close | G |
| - | |
| You may say that you can tell them by their clothing if you will | H |
| But a man may seem neglected and his home be happy still | H |
| You may tell by their assumption of conventional disguise | I |
| But the men who made bad matches I can tell them by their eyes | I |
| - | |
| I have seen them by the camp fire where a child s voice never comes | J |
| I have seen them by the fireside in their seeming happy homes | K |
| Seen their wives false arms go round them and the kisses that were lies | I |
| Oh the men who made bad matches I can tell them by their eyes | I |
| - | |
| I have seen them bad in prison seen them sullen seen them sad | L |
| I have seen them in the mad house I have seen them raving mad | L |
| Watched them fight the battle bravely for the children s sake alone | M |
| Like a father who has wronged them and who lives but to atone | M |
| - | |
| But it s cruel oh it s cruel for the husband and the wife | N |
| Who have not one thought in common and are yoked for weary life | N |
| They must see it through and suffer for the children they must rear | O |
| Oh the folk who made bad matches have a heavy cross to bear | P |
| - | |
| There is not a ray of comfort in the future s gloomy sky | Q |
| For the children of bad matches will make trouble by and bye | Q |
| And though second wives be angels while the first wives were the worst | R |
| No second wife yet wedded makes a man forget the first | R |
| - | |
| Ah the men who made bad matches think more often than we know | S |
| Of the girls they should have married in the glorious long ago | S |
| And there s many a wife and mother thinks with bitter pain to day | T |
| Of her giddy silly girlhood and the man she sent away | T |
| - | |
| Life is sad for men and women but the thoughts are bitter sad | L |
| Of the girls we should have married and the boys we should have had | L |
| But we ll part now with a handshake if we cannot with a kiss | U |
| And bad matches may be mended in a better world than this | U |
Henry Lawson
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Write your comment about The Men Who Made Bad Matches poem by Henry Lawson
Best Poems of Henry Lawson