The women I’m not married to

A couple of quotes from a columnist Franklin P. Adams (1881-1960). I came across a book of his I picked up at some unknown time in the past three decades - Women I'm Not Married To. Published in 1922; Its dedication:

TO MRS. FRANKLIN P. ADAMS

BUT FOR WHOM THIS BOOK MIGHT NOT HAVE BEEN WRITTEN, BUT FOR WHOM IT WAS

There is also an opening poem

Whene’er I take my walks”—you know
The rest—“abroad,” I always meet
Elaine or Maude or Anne or Flo,
Belinda, Blanche, or Marguerite;
And Melancholy, bittersweet,
Sets seal upon me when I view—
Coldly, and from a judgment seat—
The women I’m not married to.

Not mine the sighs for Long Ago;
Not mine to mourn the obsolete;
With Burns and Shelley, Keats and Poe
I have no yearning to compete.
No Dead Sea pickled pears I eat;
I never touch a drop of rue;
I toast, and drink my pleasure neat,
The women I’m not married to!

Fate with her celebrated blow
Frequently knocks me off my feet;
And Life her dice box chucks a throw
That usually has me beat.
Yet although Love has tried to treat
Me rough, award the kid his due.
Look at the list, though incomplete:
The women I’m not married to.