A Slice Of Wedding Cake

Why have such scores of lovely, gifted girls
    Married impossible men?
  Simple self-sacrifice may be ruled out,
    And missionary endeavour, nine times out of ten.

  Repeat 'impossible men':  not merely rustic,
    Foul-tempered or depraved
  (Dramatic foils chosen to show the world
    How well women behave, and always have behaved).
     
  Impossible men:  idle, illiterate,
    Self-pitying, dirty, sly,
  For whose appearance even in City parks
    Excuses must be made to casual passers-by.

  Has God's supply of tolerable husbands
    Fallen, in fact, so low?
  Or do I always over-value woman
    At the expense of man?
                        Do I?
                                It might be so.