Ballade of Madame Bovary

Was it for this I learned to read
And write and bake a cherry pie?
I was romantic—“All I need
Is love!" was my incessant cry.
But girls, however hard you try,
How long you work, how much you fret,
You'll meet the same reward as I—
A country doctor's all you get.

A wife is only fit to breed
Her brats and sing their lullaby.
Oh, had I only given heed
To those sweet nuns who glorify
The Lord in prayer, and daily die,
I might have been a virgin yet.
But marriage makes the world a sty—
A country doctor's all you get.

I learned to do adultery's deed:
I took two lovers—one a sly
And skillful horseman (I the steed
He rode with such an expert thigh).
My second love was sweetly shy,
An easy fish in rapture's net.
But when I needed cash—good-bye!
A country doctor’s all you get.

L'Envoi

Girls, never raise your hopes too high.
Lower your standards, and forget
The dream of catching a rich man's eye—
A country doctor's all you get.

by Gail White