The Poetry Corner

Hes Gone To England For A Wife

By Henry Lawson

He's gone to England for a wife Among the ladies there; And yet I know a lass he deemed The rarest of the rare. Hes gone to England for a wife; And rich and proud is he. But he was poor and toiled for bread When first he courted me. He said I was the best on earth; He said I was his life; And now he thinks of noble birth, And seeks a lady wife! He said for me alone hed toil To win an honest fame; But now no lass on southern soil Is worthy of his name! I think I see his lady bride, A fair and faultless face, And nothing in her heart beside The empty pride of race. And she will grace his gilded home, The wife his gold shall buy; But will she ever dream of him, Or love as well as I?