A Sonnet
By Alice Duer Miller
DEAR, if you love me, hold me most your friend,
Chosen from out the many who would bear
Your gladness gladly—heavily your care;
Who best can sympathize, best comprehend,
Where others fail; who, breathless to the end,
Follows your tale of joy or of despair.
Hold me your counsellor, because I dare
To lift my hand to guide you, that I lend
My love to help you. And I would you knew
That I am fair enough to win men’s hearts,
If so I willed; yet honor me above
All other women, since I am too true
To trap you with my sex’s smaller arts.
Deem me all these, but love me as your love.
4 comments:
How's V-Day so far?
I really like the poem. When did you first read it?
This strikes me as the anti-Fascinating Womanhood poem. I love it!
"trap you with my sex’s smaller arts" is very much Fascinating Womanhood's scheme.
Alice Duer Miller was a suffragist at the turn of the century. She also wrote "Are Women People?" and "Women are People!" Funny and sad that such and idea would need asserting.
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