trouble and strife

Who would be born into a mans's man's man's world?
But what do children care
For grown ups' despair
A house can hold both boy and girl
But every mother's son grows up
And daughters imitate
And the burden of careworn world
Is his to bear --
Hers to wait
As the open world of a tomboy girl
Closes on a growing wife
From a childhood clear
Through teenage years
That always seem to be more
Trouble than strife.
From the hot dark of the night
To the cold light of day
From the cradle to wife to grave
Unless I stand in the way
As the open world of a tomboy girl
Closes in with growing strife
For my own sake
I'll comfort take
To know I'd never make a wife
As the open world of a tomboy girl
Closes in with growing strife
For my own sake
I'll comfort take
In the knowledge that
I'd never make a wife
You hear them talk of women's way with hatred
And it cuts me like a knife
Poor men, so much to bear
The children and the trouble and strife
The open world of a tomboy girl
Is the best of life
From a childhood clear
You end up here
In trouble and strife