Reely's Poetry Blog

by LUCY MAUD MONTGOMERY (1874-1942)

'As my letter must be brief
I’ll at once state my belief
And this it is, that, since the world began,
Since Adam first did say
‘Twas Eve led me astray
A woman hath more patience than a man.

If a man’s obliged to wait
For someone who’s rather late
No mortal ever got in such a stew,
And if something can’t be found
That he’s sure should be around
The listening air sometimes grows fairly blue.

Just watch a man who tries
To soothe a baby’s cries,
Or put a stovepipe up in weather cold,
Into what a state he’ll get,
How he’ll fuss and fume and fret
And stamp and bluster round and storm and scold.

Some point to Job with pride
As an argument for their side!
Why, it was so rare a patient man to see
That when one was really found
His discoverers were bound
To preserve for him a place in history.

And while I admit it’s true
That man has some patience, too,
And that woman isn’t always sweetly calm,
Still, I think all must agree
On this central fact that she
For general, all-round patience bears the palm.'