  I. Ladies who in chains of wedlock Chafe at an unequal yoke, Not to nightingales give hearing; Better this, the raven's croak. II. Down the Prado strolled my seigneur, Arm at lordly bow on hip, Fingers trimming his moustachios, Eyes for pirate fellowship. III. Home sat she that owned him master; Like the flower bent to ground Rain-surcharged and sun-forsaken; Heedless of her hair unbound. IV. Sudden at her feet a lover Palpitating knelt and wooed; Seemed a very gift from heaven To the starved of common food. V. Love me? she his vows repeated: Fiery vows oft sung and thrummed: Wondered, as on earth a stranger; Thirsted, trusted, and succumbed. VI. O beloved youth! my lover! Mine! my lover! take my life Wholly: thine in soul and body, By this oath of more than wife! VII. Know me for no helpless woman; Nay, nor coward, though I sink Awed beside thee, like an infant Learning shame ere it can think. VIII. Swing me hence to do thee service, Be thy succour, prove thy shield; Heaven will hear!—in house thy handmaid, Squire upon the battlefield. IX. At my breasts I cool thy footsoles; Wine I pour, I dress thy meats; Humbly, when my lord it pleaseth, Lie with him on perfumed sheets: X. Pray for him, my blood's dear fountain, While he sleeps, and watch his yawn In that wakening babelike moment, Sweeter to my thought than dawn!— XI. Thundered then her lord of thunders; Burst the door, and flashing sword, Loud disgorged the woman's title: Condemnation in one word. XII. Grand by righteous wrath transfigured, Towers the husband who provides In his person judge and witness, Death's black doorkeeper besides! XIII. Round his head the ancient terrors, Conjured of the stronger's law, Circle, to abash the creature Daring twist beneath his paw. XIV. How though he hath squandered Honour! High of Honour let him scold: Gilding of the man's possession, 'Tis the woman's coin of gold. XV. She inheriting from many Bleeding mothers bleeding sense, Feels 'twixt her and sharp-fanged nature Honour first did plant the fence. XVI. Nature, that so shrieks for justice; Honour's thirst, that blood will slake; These are women's riddles, roughly Mixed to write them saint or snake. XVII. Never nature cherished woman: She throughout the sexes' war Serves as temptress and betrayer, Favouring man, the muscular. XVIII. Lureful is she, bent for folly; Doating on the child which crows: Yours to teach him grace in fealty, What the bloom is, what the rose. XIX. Hard the task: your prison-chamber Widens not for lifted latch Till the giant thews and sinews Meet their Godlike overmatch. XX. Read that riddle, scorning pity's Tears, of cockatrices shed: When the heart is vowed for freedom, Captaincy it yields to head. XXI. Meanwhile you, freaked nature's martyrs, Honour's army, flower and weed, Gentle ladies, wedded ladies, See for you this fair one bleed. XXII. Sole stood her offence, she faltered; Prayed her lord the youth to spare; Prayed that in the orange garden She might lie, and ceased her prayer. XXIII. Then commending to all women Chastity, her breasts she laid Bare unto the self-avenger. Man in metal was the blade. |
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