Bohemian legends and other poems/The Old Bachelor

by Josef Václav Sládek

For works with similar titles, see The Old Bachelor.

THE OLD BACHELOR.

 

If I only had a wife,
Surely I’d drink water.
In a beer room, by my life,
Never I would saunter.

If I only had a wife,
I’d go home at evening;
Not a friend, and not a strife,
Then would stop my leaving.

If I only had a wife,
A simple forest thrush,
I would sing, and I would fife,
At home, till she said, “Hush.”

If I only had a wife,
Were she little and wee,
I’d stay by her, by my life,
And ne’er go on a spree.