I freely confess there are good friends of mine, <br />With whom we are often invited to dine, <br />Who get on my nerves so that I cannot eat <br />Or stay with my usual ease in my seat; <br />For I know that if something should chance to occur <br />Which he may not like or which doesn't please her, <br />That we'll have to try to be pleasant somehow <br />While they stage a fine little family row. <br /> <br />Now a family row is a private affair, <br />And guests, I am certain, should never be there; <br />I have freely maintained that a man and his wife <br />Cannot always agree on their journey through life, <br />But they ought not to bicker and wrangle and shout <br />And show off their rage when their friends are about; <br />It takes all the joy from a party, I vow, <br />When some couple starts up a family row. <br /> <br />It's a difficult job to stay cool and polite <br />When your host and your hostess are staging a fight: <br />It's hard to talk sweet to a dame with a frown <br />Or smile at a man that you want to knock down. <br />You sit like a dummy and look far away, <br />But you just can't help hearing the harsh things they say. <br />It ruins the dinner, I'm telling you now, <br />When your host and your hostess get mixed in a row.<br /><br />Edgar Albert Guest<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-family-row/
