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Coming
- Syracuse University Press
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U NC OL L E C T E D A N D O T H E R P OE M S | 165 There’s no end of pleasant muck— I can suck.” “I am happy,” said the lark, “I can sing! Rising swiftly, rising strongly On the wing. Thank the Lord for food and rest, For the safe and dainty nest, For the little brood below And sweet wife who loves me so! Thank Him more that I can see, Beyond all that comes to me, Flower-gemmed earth so warm and fair, The gold sunshine and blue air! Thank Him most for heights unending And the glory of ascending! Thank the lord for power of wing And power to sing!” (Woman’s Journal, 9 January 1904, 10) Coming Because the time is ripe, the age is ready, Because the world her woman’s help demands, Out of the long subjection and seclusion Come to our field of warfare and confusion The mother’s heart and hands. Long has she stood aside, endured and waited, While man swung forward, toiling on alone; Now, for the weary man, so long ill-mated, Now, for the world for which she was created, Comes woman to her own. Not for herself! though sweet the air of freedom; Not for herself! though dear the new-born power; But for the child, who needs a nobler mother, For the whole people, needing one another, Comes woman to her hour. (Woman’s Journal, 16 January 1904, 18) The “Old” Woman Don’t talk to me of modern wives— “Advanced,” “progressive,” “new”— And the dreadful “coming woman” So forced upon my view! ...