womanhood

 

Womanhood by Catherine Anderson

She slides over

the hot upholstery

of her mother's car,

this schoolgirl of fifteen

who loves humming & swaying

with the radio.

Her entry into womanhood

will be like all the other girls'—

a cigarette and a joke,

as she strides up with the rest

to a brick factory

where she'll sew rag rugs

from textile strips of kelly green,

bright red, aqua.

'The Truth of Woman' by Sir Walter Scott

Woman's faith, and woman's trust -

Write the characters in the dust;

Stamp them on the running stream,

Print them on the moon's pale beam,

And each evanescent letter

Shall be clearer, firmer, better,

And more permanent, I ween,

Than the thing those letters mean.

The Gardener LIX: O Woman by Rabindranath Tagore

O woman, you are not merely the

handiwork of God, but also of men;

these are ever endowing you with

beauty from their hearts.

Poets are weaving for you a web

with threads of golden imagery;

painters are giving your form ever

new immortality.

The sea gives its pearls, the mines

their gold, the summer gardens their

flowers to deck you, to cover you, to

make you more precious.

The desire of men's hearts has shed

its glory over your youth.

You are one half woman and one

half dream.

The Ever-Patient Woman by Andree Chedid

In the flowing sap

In her growing fever

Parting her veils

Cracking out of her shells

Sliding out of her skins

The ever-patient woman

Slowly

gives herself

life

In her volcanoes

In her orchards

Seeking solidity and measure

Clasping her most tender flesh

Straining every fine-honed fiber

The ever-patient woman

Slowly

gives herself

light.

A Woman's Shortcomings by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Unless you can muse in a crowd all day

On the absent face that fixed you;

Unless you can love, as the angels may,

With the breadth of heaven betwixt you;

Unless you can dream that his faith is fast,

Through behoving and unbehoving;

Unless you can die when the dream is past -

Oh, never call it loving!