The speaker remembers his beloved quoting a bitter truth about love — that it’s fair and rare, yet vanishes lightly. He treated her like a foolish child: bowed her head, kissed her hair, and laughed. But the memory lingers. Reflecting, he realizes her words held more depth than he first assumed. There’s a wisdom in women, he muses, that blows through them unawares, making their thoughts wiser than their own knowing. How else could someone so ignorant and young speak so truly about love’s impermanence? The poem’s language is conversational and intimate, as if he’s thinking aloud. He calls her “my dear one” with lingering affection, and the final line’s “so true” underscores his wonder. The image of thoughts blowing through women like a wind adds a subtle, oracular quality. The mood is tender and reflective, shifting from gentle condescension to quiet awe. It’s a brief, luminous pause — a moment when patronizing amusement turns to reverence for the unconscious insight his lover voiced.
There's Wisdom In Women — Summary
"Oh love is fair, and love is rare;" my dear one she said, "But love goes lightly over." I bowed her foolish head, And kissed her hair and laughed at her. Such a child was she; So new to love, so true to love, and she spoke so bitterly.
But there's wisdom in women, of more than they have known, And thoughts go blowing through them, are wiser than their own, Or how should my dear one, being ignorant and young, Have cried on love so bitterly, with so true a tongue?