A WOMAN! lightly the mysterious word Falls from our lips, lightly as though we knew Its meaning, as we say -- a flower, a bird, Or say the moon, the stream, the light, the dew, Simple familiar things, mysterious too; Or as a star is set down on a chart, Named with a name, out yonder in the blue: A woman -- and yet how much more thou art! So lightly spoken, and so lightly heard, And yet, strange word, who shall thy sense construe? What sage hath yet fit designation dared? Yet I have sought the dictionaries through, And of thy meaning found me not a clue; Blessing and breaking still the firmest heart, So fairy false, yet so divinely true: A woman -- and yet how much more thou art! Mother of God, and Circe, bosom-bared, That nursed our manhood, and our manhood slew; First dream, last sigh, all the long way we fared, Sweeter than honey, bitterer than rue; Thou fated radiance sorrowing men pursue, Thou art the whole of life -- the rest but part Of thee, all things we ever dream or do: A woman -- and yet how much more thou art! ENVOI Princess, that all this craft of moonlight threw Across my path, this deep immortal smart Shall still burn on when winds my ashes strew: A woman -- and yet how much more thou art! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...LEINSTER by LOUISE IMOGEN GUINEY THREE PASTORAL ELEGIES: TO THE READER (2) by WILLIAM BASSE DEDICATIONS AND INSCRIPTIONS: 8. BEAM-VERSES AT WELL KNOWE by GORDON BOTTOMLEY VERSES TO J. RANKINE by ROBERT BURNS GEMINI AND VIRGO by CHARLES STUART CALVERLEY TO THE COUNTESS OF ANGLESEY UPON THE DEATH OF HER HUSBAND by THOMAS CAREW |