This is nice poetry. It shows the joys and the follies of taking a wife. A wife can be a comfort as well as a life long friend. She is perhaps the companion to keep for life. The man takes a wife to keep her for life. He maintains her and she dies. He still combs her hair. When a neighbor comes inquiring he says she's watching television. She is already dead. The cause of her death is not known. He keeps his promise of keeping her. The man himself dies after her. The death's are tragic. What he dreamed was perhaps not fulfilled. The poetry is nice to read.