Who would be born Into a man'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 Trouble and strife Trouble and strife Trouble and strife