RADIO PROGRAM
About Bryant McGill
Event Photographs
Various Online Works!
Dictionary of Rhyme
Community Forums
Visitor Comments
Open Publishing Projects
BUYING BOOKS
Free Downloads
Vision Board
Call for Submissions
Contact Information
Autograph Requests
Universality of Suffering
The Golden Rule
Book of Truth
Collected Works
Gift Givers Manifesto
Become the Change
Free Audio Readings
Wife and Daughters
Memorial Dedications
McGill Family History
Rare & Exotic Collectibles
A Few Favorite Quotes
Current Reading List
World Poetry Archive
MySpace.com
Linkedin.com
DeviantArt.com
Social Vibe Charity
YouTUBE.com
Squa.re Lifestyles
Technorati.com
Poker Players Net
NextCat.com
Friendster.com
NowLive.com
Bebo.com
Yuwie.com
Blogspot.com
Hi5 Network
Tribe Hollywood


Listen - Visit Site - Stations

Become Powerful!

Links & Partners




World Poetry Translation Project


Submit Human Translation | Discuss Poem | Post Poetry | Listen McGill Live

I Do, I Will, I Have

by Ogden Nash

How wise I am to have instructed the butler
to instruct the first footman to instruct the second
footman to instruct the doorman to order my carriage;
I am about to volunteer a definition of marriage.
Just as I know that there are two Hagens, Walter and Copen,
I know that marriage is a legal and religious alliance entered
into by a man who can't sleep with the window shut and a
woman who can't sleep with the window open.
Moreover, just as I am unsure of the difference between
flora and fauna and flotsam and jetsam,
I am quite sure that marriage is the alliance of two people
one of whom never remembers birthdays and the other
never forgetsam,
And he refuses to believe there is a leak in the water pipe or
the gas pipe and she is convinced she is about to asphyxiate
or drown,
And she says Quick get up and get my hairbrushes off the
windowsill, it's raining in, and he replies Oh they're all right,

it's only raining straight down.
That is why marriage is so much more interesting than divorce,
Because it's the only known example of the happy meeting of
the immovable object and the irresistible force.
So I hope husbands and wives will continue to debate and
combat over everything debatable and combatable,
Because I believe a little incompatibility is the spice of life,
particularly if he has income and she is pattable.


American Review | www.PaperLyon.com | McGill Live Radio | Publish
 

  Translations for this Poem
 English  Spanish  French  German
 Italian  Portuguese  Korean  Russian
 Chinese  Japanese    
 

  Poems by Ogden Nash
  1. Adventures Of Isabel
  2. Agrave Bas Ben Adhem
  3. Always Marry An April Girl
  4. A Caution To Everybody
  5. A Drink With Something In It
  6. A Lady Who Thinks She Is Thirty
  7. A Tale Of The Thirteenth Floor
  8. A Word To Husbands
  9. Bankers Are Just Like Anybody Else Exce
  10. Biological Reflection
  11. Celery
  12. Childrens Party
  13. Columbus
  14. Come On In The Senility Is Fine
  15. Common Cold
  16. Crossing The Border
  17. Custard The Dragon And The Wicked Knigh
  18. Everybody Tells Me Everything
  19. Family Court
  20. First Child Second Child
  21. Fleas
  22. Further Reflections On Parsley
  23. Good-By Now or Pardon My Gauntlet
  24. Goody For Our Side And Your Side Too
  25. Grandpa Is Ashamed
  26. Introspective Reflection
  27. I Didnt Go To Church Today
  28. I Do I Will I Have
  29. Just Keep Quiet And Nobody Will Notice
  30. Kiplings Vermont
  31. Lather As You Go
  32. Lines Indited With All The Depravity Of
  33. Lines On Facing Forty
  34. Lines To Be Embroidered On A Bib
  35. Listen
  36. Look What You Did Christopher
  37. More About People
  38. My Dream
  39. No Doctors Today Thank You
  40. No You Be A Lone Eagle
  41. Oh To Be Odd
  42. Old Dr Valentine To His Son
  43. Old Men
  44. One From One Leaves Two
  45. One Third Of The Calendar
  46. Peekabo I Almost See You
  47. PG Wooster Just As He Useter
  48. Portrait Of The Artist As A Prematurely
  49. Possessions Are Nine Points Of Conversa
  50. Pretty Halcyon Days
  51. Reflections On Ice-Breaking
  52. Reflection On A Wicked World
  53. Reflection On Babies
  54. Reflection On Caution
  55. Reflection On The Fallibility Of Nemesi
  56. Requiem
  57. Samson Agonistes
  58. Soliloquy In Circles
  59. Song Of The Open Road
  60. Song To Be Sung By The Father Of Infant
  61. So Does Everybody Else Only Not So Much
  62. Spring Comes To Murray Hill
  63. Tableau At Twilight
  64. The Abominable Snowman
  65. The Ant
  66. The Boy Who Laughed At Santa Claus
  67. The Camel
  68. The Cantaloupe
  69. The Catsup Bottle
  70. The Centipede
  71. The Chipmunk
  72. The Clean Plater
  73. The Cow
  74. The Cuckoo
  75. The Dog
  76. The Duck
  77. The Eel
  78. The Firefly
  79. The Fly
  80. The Germ
  81. The Guppy
  82. The Hippopotamus
  83. The Hunter
  84. The Jellyfish
  85. The Joyous Malingerer
  86. The Lion
  87. The Middle
  88. The Octopus
  89. The Ostrich
  90. The Parent
  91. The People Upstairs
  92. The Perfect Husband
  93. The Pig
  94. The Porcupine
  95. The Praying Mantis
  96. The Purist
  97. The Rhinoceros
  98. The Romantic Age
  99. The Shrimp
  100. The Sniffle
  101. The Solitary Huntsman
  102. The Squab
  103. The Swan
  104. The Tale of Custard the Dragon
  105. The Termite
  106. The Terrible People
  107. The Turtle
  108. The Wasp
  109. Tin Wedding Whistle
  110. To A Small Boy Standing On My Shoes Whi
  111. To My Valentine
  112. Very Like A Whale
  113. Whats The Use
  114. What Almost Every Woman Knows Sooner Or
  115. Winter Complaint
  116. You Can Be A Republican Im A Genocrat
 
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPRSTVWY[ALL] 
  Octavio Paz 
  Ogden Nash 
  Oliver Goldsmith 
  Oliver Wendell Holmes 
  Oscar Wilde 
  Osip Mandelstam 
  Ovid 
   

Volunteers needed to translate poetry into different languages. Please help us correct the translation of these poems. We currently have 79,663 translations and are trying to create the largest and most accurate database of world poetry translations. We have started with machine translations which are very inaccurate. Please translate your favorite poem on this site. You will be given credit for your translation and a link to your site if desired. COPYRIGHT NOTICE: These poems have been gathered and submitted by many of people, and from many sources. Most have no copyright. However, some may may have copyrights. We have tried to collect poems that appear on many external sites where the author seems to want to disseminate. If you are an author and do not want your poetry translated into other languages then send a removal request and it will be promptly removed.
 



Where applicable, U.S. & Int'l Copyrights by Bryant McGill. All Rights Reserved. Notices and Fair Use. McGill Trademark Licensed from the House of Gill, Corp Sole.