I am a woman--therefore I may not <br />Call to him, cry to him, <br />Fly to him, <br />Bid him delay not! <br /> <br />Then when he comes to me, I must sit quiet: <br />Still as a stone-- <br />All silent and cold. <br />If my heart riot-- <br />Crush and defy it! <br />Should I grow bold, <br />Say one dear thing to him, <br />All my life fling to him, <br />Cling to him-- <br />What to atone <br />Is enough for my sinning! <br />This were the cost to me, <br />This were my winning-- <br />That he were lost to me. <br /> <br />Not as a lover <br />At last if he part from me, <br />Tearing my heart from me, <br />Hurt beyond cure,-- <br />Calm and demure <br />Then must I hold me, <br />In myself fold me, <br />Lest he discover; <br />Showing no sign to him <br />By look of mine to him <br />What he has been to me-- <br />How my heart turns to him, <br />Follows him, yearns to him, <br />Prays him to love me. <br /> <br />Pity me, lean to me, <br />Thou God above me!<br /><br />Richard Watson Gilder<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-woman-s-thought/
