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PHASES

A song for the average woman.
 
When I was just a toddler,
Only knee-high to an ant,
I had the vilest temper in the nursery.
I would pout and sulk for hours,
And I'd weep and rail and rant. 
My attempts to dry the tears were only cursory.
And though poor Mum and Dad were often blue,
They'd say "It's just a phase she's going through."
 
It's just a phase! 
It's just a phase...
Accounts for all her wild and wanton ways.
So the Brownies have expelled her
For an undisclosed offence;
And opening up her school report
Beats Hitchcock for suspense.
When you think about it logically
You know it all makes sense!
It's a phase.
Just a phase.
 
When I grew into a woman,
When I left my toys behind,
My temper was the scandal of the neighbourhood.
And each and every boy-friend
Would be viciously maligned.
My tongue possessed the edge a Russian sabre would.
But every boy I drenched in my abuse
Would stop and think and offer this excuse.
 
It's PMT!
It's PMT!
She's obviously in dreadful agony.
Though she's poisoned all the sparrows
And she's disembowelled the cat;
Rampaging through the kitchen
Like some Transylvanian bat;
Underneath she's very sweet,
It's such a pity that
It's PMT.
It's PMT.
 
When I finally got a husband;
When at last I was a bride;
I became the very vilest type of harridan.
My children all were cringing
For I'd nag them till they cried.
Then I'd curse the very pram that they were carried in.
But did my husband ever remonstrate?
He'd say "I know what's got her in this state."
 
It's motherhood...
Ah! Motherhood...
Her tantrums often are misunderstood.
Though her cooking does remind one
Of the Borgia's at their best;
And a glare from either eyeball
Can bring cardiac arrest;
When she got laryngitis
We were grateful for the rest!
It's motherhood.
Just motherhood.
 
When the children had departed --
When at last my time was free --
I took on all the calmness of a mortar shell.
I joined the Women's Institute --
Or maybe they joined me;
And dyed my hair a nasty shade of tortoise-shell.
And though my temper worsened by the day,
They'd shake their heads indulgently, and say:
 
She's on the change!
She's on the change!
All her molecules and hormones rearrange.
Though her dizzy spells are awesome,
And her future's looking bleak;
Her migraines have the power
Of Mount Etna at its peak;
Her flushes kept the central heating
Running for a week!
She's on the change!
She's on the change!
 
 
©  Leonard Morley 2009


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