Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE SECOND WIFE, by KATE PORTER LEWIS


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE SECOND WIFE, by                    
First Line: You lived in a gray cottage on a street
Last Line: Could I but give to roger his first son!
Subject(s): Marriage; Widows & Widowers; Weddings; Husbands; Wives


You lived in a gray cottage on a street
Where all the women sewed and swept and baked:
You, Roger Alsop's first wife, always waked
To find a task for brain and hands and feet.
Now Roger's moved, and he and I compete
With all the wealth of neighbors, true or faked.
You died in the gray cottage, but he staked
What you had saved through cold, fatigue, and heat.

I, Roger's young wife, spend with lavish hand
The fortune you and Roger saved and earned.
Unhappy you, and I the lucky one?
I would live anywhere in any land,
And stoop to service you would have spurned,
Could I but give to Roger his first son!





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