The Bargain

The Bargain
 Climbing trees and skinned up knees
 Always running wild
 She knew her parents loved her, but
 She was a problem child
 She wore her brother's jeans and shirts
 Her mother said, "ok -
 But when you turn thirteen, my girl,
 You'll have to change your ways"
 It was the bargain that they made
 It was the price she had to pay
 If life was not all she would hope
 Her time would come, she'd learned to cope
 And though a few small dreams might fade
 It was the bargain that they made
 Married in 1955
 To the high school baseball star
 She thought she'd bought her freedom
 He drove the fastest car
 She thought she'd work a year or two
 Maybe go to school someday
 Her husband said, "My wife can't work -
 What would the neighbors say?"
 So she stayed at home for fifteen years
 She'd cook & clean and sew
 Raised the kids with loving hands
 Loved to watch them grow
 Had the boss to dinner
 And she kept her husband's books
 They laughed about the feminists
 She worried 'bout her looks
 When the kids got older
 She volunteered her time
 And when her husband started school
 She went to work part time
 When her sister's husband left her
 For a woman half his age
 She thought about the feminists
 She understood the rage
 Now the kids are on their own
 Her husband sometimes grieves
 For his children's laughs and hugs
 He never could receive
 How a man could give his life and heart
 To an office far away
 His wife just held him as he talked
 There was nothing she could say
 It was the bargain that they made
 It was the price he had to pay
 If life was not all he would hope
 His time would come, he'd learned to cope
 And though a few small dreams might fade
 It was the bargain that they made