For something good and green to alight upon
And nestle into, with those soft-winged eyes
Subsiding now beneath his manly hand
’Twixt trembling lids of inexpressive joy:
I will not scorn her, after all, too much,
That so much she should love me. A wise man
Can pluck a leaf, and find a lecture in’t;
And I, too, . . God has made me,—I’ve a heart
That’s capable of worship, love, and loss;
We say the same of Shakspeare’s. I’ll be meek,
And learn to reverence, even this poor myself.
The book, too—pass it. ‘A good book,’ says he,
‘And you a woman,’ I had laughed at that,
But long since. I’m a woman,—it is true;
Alas, and woe to us, when we feel it most!
Then, least care have we for the crowns and goals,
And compliments on writing our good books.
The book has some truth in it, I believe:
And truth outlives pain, as the soul does life.
I know we talk our Phædons to the end
Through all the dismal faces that we make,
O’er-wrinkled with dishonouring agony
From any mortal drug. I have written truth,
And I a woman; feebly, partially,
Inaptly in presentation, Romney’ll add,
Because a woman. For the truth itself,
That’s neither man’s nor woman’s, but just God’s;
None else has reason to be proud of truth:
