If No One Ever Marries Me

If no one ever marries me --
And I don't see why they should,
For nurse says I'm not pretty,
And I'm seldom very good --

If no one ever marries me
I shan't mind very much,
I shall buy a squirrel in a cage
And a little rabbit-hutch;

I shall have a cottage near a wood,
And a pony all my own,
And a little lamb, quite clean and tame,
That I can take to town.

And when I'm getting really old --
At twenty-eight or nine --
I shall buy a little orphan-girl
And bring her up as mine.


by Lawrence Alma-Tadema