For better or worse?

Andy Lyle 1951 (Londonderry)



Don't stop for breath between the lines
Keep reading on ,now that's just fine
Don't stop now you have got the flow
Keep reading we have far to go
First let me tell you about me
It started off when I was wee
And Mum to me a rhyme would tell
About a man's wife taken to hell
By the Devil himself up on his back
In Ireland that's the usual craic
He told the man how life was well
Until he took his wife to Hell
How things all changed , not for the better
As the man's wife was a real go getter
She had him painting walls all white
And burning smelly candles at night
In Hell it did not go down well
And the Devil he could not stand the smell
Of Patchouli oil and aniseed balls
And of course white and pink painted walls
He took the woman back up to earth
And returned to Hell to blacken his hearth
That had been painted a silver hue
Which of course in Hell it just won't do
The walls were all returned to black
That woman said the Devil is not coming back
And there you have it that is why

All Ladies become angels in the sky
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Submitted by andylyle1 on October 07, 2013

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:05 min read
10

Quick analysis:

Scheme XXAABBCCDDCCEEFFCCGGXXHHDDI I
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 995
Words 211
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 27, 1

Andy Lyle

Born in Ireland more…

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    "For better or worse?" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 18 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/71531/for-better-or-worse?>.

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