IT WAS A SCANDAL

(Based on a real life case discovered in researching a local family's history.  It did not make news, although it happened in 1880s and the family were landowners.  The man went on to father several more children with the much younger woman, who came to live in his mansion while the wife - a much older woman who had time to produce only two sons - lived apart, without divorcing, in the nearest town.)

It was a scandal at the time,
Some even said it was a crime,
A contravention of God’s plan –
She’d made off with a married man,
Leaving his wife humiliated,
Who was more superannuated.
But he had a private hunger,
Fed by one pretty and younger.
A year on from the adulterous fun
She presented him with a bastard son.