My hair is silver now

I like to think my hair is silver now
It's journey from fair, to brown, to white
Did record those stages in my life
Like a census marking dawn to night

I can't pretend my parents were the best
They brought me up through years of strife
Hung on to the bitter end to be
Confounded, so left to wed a wife

Shanty like was our first married home
Garden a jungle had to be cleared
Like native worked spurred on by police
Laughed at how we looked, your Ma just sneered

Then suddenly after all those years
That it was poor me that you did ditch
What a shock, I have to tell you that
Oh what can I say, you were a bitch!

So I strolled through life alone and sad
Now what have I got to show for that?
A wealth of knowledge from reading books
A house, a garden and one black cat

Image found at https://www.flickr.com/photos/44968994@N06/6149998532