There Is Always A Price Poem by Francis Duggan

In her younger years she was the pride of the town
With eyes blue as a ripe sloe and shoulder length wavy hair of brown
She had marriage proposals from Luke, John, Andy and Ted
But she turned them down and today remains as unwed
In her prime years one desired by local young men
But none of them were up to her standards then
Unmarried and unpartnered and childless in her mid fifties she remains rather proud
One can say of her by time she is unbowed
With anti ageing creams she smooths her time wrinkles and with brown hair dye cloaks her gray
She refuses for to age in the natural way
Until she breathes her last as a spinster she will remain
And the reason for this it's own self does explain
The pick of the local young men her standards failed to meet
There is always a price to pay for self conceit.